Simple Things
by Caitiy
Summary: [KakaSaku] – Sometimes the biggest most unexpected changes can be brought about by the simplest things.
1. Chapter One: Thank You

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I'm working under the assumption that one way or another Sasuke eventually makes it back to Konoha and is accepted back into the ranks of shinobi. This fic is for FlameTwirler who has been kind enough to encourage me to post this and offer services as a beta. Thank you! (I'm sure I'd still be waffling over this now if you didn't poke at me about it. :D)

* * *

Chapter One: Thank You

Just as she was finishing up with her last patient before her much anticipated afternoon tea break a familiar but unnamed jonin discretely cleared his throat. She had to fight to keep from starting since she hadn't even heard him enter the exam room. Absently she figured she might be allowing her non medical skills to get a little rusty. She nodded her acknowledgement before turning back to the young patient before her.

"You're all set to go Sota, _however_," she made sure to catch his brown eyes with her own green eyes to stress the importance of what she was going to say to him. "I don't want to hear of you attempting to climb trees again on your own without proper training and supervision from your sensei. Just because your friends are doing it doesn't mean that you should be too. _Understood_?"

Grave brown eyes widened and the small child nodded. He hadn't told her how he had broken his arm and ankle and accumulated any number of minor scratches and bruises, she had somehow just _known_. Unknowingly she had just perpetuated one of the many rumors amongst the younger generation, the rumor in question being that she was _scary_ smart as in too smart to be human. The reasoning was that she would have to be, to be able to deal with Naruto and Sasuke as if they were minor annoyances rather than two of the strongest shinobi in the village. It was well known that all she needed was either a well placed glare or petite fist to stop either of them in their tracks. Hastily the small child hopped down from the table and rushed out, leaving the medic alone with the unknown jonin.

Her eyes made their way questioningly to the quiet shinobi, noting with slight irritation that his eyes had been fixed several inches below hers. An eyebrow twitched, unnoticed by the unknown jonin. "Since I don't know you personally and you appear to be uninjured, I'm assuming that this would be a _business_ call?" She hoped the slight stress on 'business' would relocate his eyes to a more appropriate place.

* * *

His eyes snapped up to meet hers with only a slight tint of pink hinting that he knew he had been caught by the ever observant medic nin. Quickly covering his social faux pas, he nodded and silently handed her a small scrap of paper. He took one last moment to take in the appearance of the young kunoichi while she was examining the paper he had handed her before hastily taking his exit. A vision she may be, but her temper was legendary amongst those of her own generation and older, and he figured the less he said the less likely he would be on the receiving end of it.

As he exited he vaguely wondered if he should check the dice his watch partner had used to decide who would have the 'pleasure' of delivering the message. This was the 9th time in a row he had lost using his partner's dice and things were beginning to look a little suspicious. Granted he had just been given a chance to see the well-known kunoichi up close and personal, so perhaps losing this time hadn't been such a bad thing after all. Now he could personally attest to her reputed assets.

Briefly he wondered if he might have a chance with a kunoichi like her. After a moment's thought he quickly dismissed it as a lost cause for two quite notable reasons. Absently he sighed and wondered if there would ever be someone brave or rather foolish enough to openly go for the attractive yet ever single medic. He grinned and inwardly hoped so, though he certainly wouldn't allow himself to be the imprudent one. After all, the village could certainly use some drama not related to a life and death situation, though granted with her two friends it could unintentionally end up that way.

* * *

Curiously she unfolded the bit of paper, inwardly frowning at feeling the jonin's eyes on her again before he made his exit, to find a fairly cryptic two word message. 'He's back.'

"Shit!" she swore as the meaning of the messenger and message became clear. He was actually early and she _hated_ it when one of her boys showed up early – especially this one. Nothing good ever came of him returning sooner than anticipated, particularly since he had practically made a career of being _late_.

Quickly she made her way to her small office, shed her long white medic's overcoat, and grabbed the special kit she kept for such occasions. Upon closing her office door she moved the ridiculous flower shaped marker from 'on duty' to 'special' before taking her leave of the hospital. She had been scheduled for a tea break and then rounds until the end of her shift, but whenever her marker was placed on 'special' someone would be found to cover for her.

As she hopped from rooftop to rooftop with the help of a little well placed chakra her mind frantically searched for an excuse. She preferred plausible, but it was getting to the point where _anything_, so long as she hasn't used it before, would do. If it hadn't gotten so difficult she may have found the situation humorous, with old roles seemingly reversed.

All too quickly she found herself at the foot of a familiar yellow, slightly shabby apartment building. Once she would have paused uncertainly at the entrance long enough to gather both her self and her courage before entering. But now that she had been here so many times she no longer felt the need. She still felt like an intruder, but a tolerated one – a necessary evil so to speak.

Allowing her feet to correctly guide her though the maze of hallways and stairwells to his floor on their own she permitted her mind to continue the search for an excuse for her unexpected visit. Much too quickly, and still lacking an excuse, she finally found herself stopping outside his door. She could sense that he was in, but only barely. The pink haired kunoichi couldn't tell if it was because he was halfheartedly trying to hide himself from her or if he was in more need of her skills than usual.

Actual panic started to edge its way into her mind at the thought that this time he may truly be seriously injured and in need of her help. This was the real reason she came running upon receiving those cryptic scraps of paper. When one of her 'boys' called she came, and when they _didn't_ call she came _running_. This particular one never called, so she always came; and though he never thanked her she still felt that on some level she was appreciated.

Shaking her head and brushing those troubling thoughts from her mind she brought her hand up to the door and firmly knocked. She waited. After a few moments she sighed, realizing that it would appear that he was going to try and avoid her this time. Absently she wondered if she should have sent his apartment manager a larger fruit basket the last time she had taken extreme measures to enter the stubborn shinobi's dwelling, seeing as how it appeared he hadn't learned from the last time. Sighing again inwardly she decided to grant him one more chance before resorting to force. Cautiously she brought her hand to knock again only to be stopped mid-knock by the slow opening of the door.

He eyed her warily with his lone dark eye for a moment before sighing audibly and opening the door wide enough for her to enter. He winced as he moved, "figured you might show up sooner rather than later…" He had removed his vest, over-shirt, gloves, pouches, sandals and leg wrappings leaving him in the form fitting navy blue sleeveless undershirt that also formed his mask and his baggy blue pants.

Cautiously she entered, turning to give him a concerned look. It must have been worse than usual for him to just let her in without asking for another of her increasingly lame excuses or an argument. Though she could see no obvious external signs of injuries other than his stiff movements, she figured there must be _something_ he needed her to do. He just didn't seem to be in bad enough shape to willingly allow her to help. Otherwise, why would he have let her in without a fight, verbal or otherwise?

"Go on through to the kitchen, I'll be right there," he gestured somewhat stiffly for her to continue on through to his kitchen. Oddly enough she had found through experience that it was the largest and brightest room in his bachelor flat. Carefully she set the larger than average medic kit down next to his table and remained standing, waiting for him to join her. She didn't have long to wait. He entered a few moments later removing his forehead protector and wearily running his other hand through his already messy hair. He opened his Sharingan and regarded her silently, unreadable.

She looked into his mismatched eyes wondering what she should expect from him. He was behaving distinctly unlike himself. Generally she had to argue with and bully him until she wore him down to get him in his kitchen so she could treat whatever wounds he may have collected on his mission. This time he actually seemed as though he may be ready to cooperate without so much as a word from her. Vaguely the thought that he may try to use his Sharingan to convince her to leave him alone crossed her mind, but was quickly dismissed – she wasn't worth the trouble and she could tell by his posture that he was completely exhausted.

* * *

Feeling faintly defeated he slowly pulled two of the chairs out of the way and gingerly eased himself onto the edge of the table as he had done many times before, letting out a sigh of pain mingled with anticipated relief. As much as he hated to admit it, he was glad she was there and he _did_ need her help. She was the only one he ever willingly allowed to see himself like this, granted it had taken her _years_ of forcing her way in to earn the privlege, but it was still something of an achievement. He attributed it to her own stubborn perserverence and perhaps the recently discovered soft spot he seemed to have for his only female student.

The old man had been particularly gleeful in pointing out this newly discovered weakness of his. How the old man, a life-time prison inmate for his brutal crimes against his own people now filled with remorse and regret, had figured it out from the scant little he had told him of his life he would never know. Regardless it did nothing to change the fact that he did indeed seem to have a bit of a soft spot for his only female student. Upon thinking about it he found that over the years he had let her get away with far more than her two fellow teammates and, after the team had been disbanded, more than most of his oldest friends. Take for instance her barging in on him at all hours to check up on him after missions and heal any injuries he may have.

Tsunade had tried on occasion with zero success to send other medics when he was too injured and stubborn to go to the hospital and Sakura was otherwise occupied or not available. Even injured he was still a shinobi to be feared. Invariably the replacement medics would be run off or just plain avoided – they couldn't heal what they couldn't find or catch. And either he would wait for Sakura to become available or Tsunade herself would have to seek him out for healing. On rare occasions ANBU trainees would be sent to retrieve him. It was the least desirable training exercise and was generally given out as part of a punishment due to the difficulty and fear quotient usually involved.

Inwardly he had to admit he was one spoiled shinobi when it came to his healthcare as Sakura's mission status had been limited since that last incident involving a rookie ANBU operative and a semi-conscious Copy Nin. The lesson learned that day was don't mess with him, particularly his mask, when he wasn't all there as his control could slip and make things messier than need be. Either way, she probably hadn't noticed that her status had been restricted since her work at the hospital had become so important to her that she rarely sought out missions anyhow. Instead she accepted what was given to her and happily spent the remainder of her time working at the hospital.

His mind wandered back to his soft spot for his former pink haired student and the old man's gleeful insights into his own possible reasons for having such a weakness. He had never intended to tell the old man as much about himself as he had, but somehow he had felt something of a kindred spirit in the older prisoner. It certainly didn't hurt that the old man bore a faint resemblance, mostly in his coloring, to his former sensei; that is to say if his former sensei had lived to reach his sixties. After spending months listening to the stories the old man had to tell of his life and the many mistakes he had made, he had been startled to find how similar many of the crossroads in the old man's life had been to his own. Circumstances were vastly different as he was a Master Carver not a ninja, but the old man had fallen to the same sins of arrogance and pride that had plagued him in his childhood on through his young adulthood and had been forced to deal with similarly painful consequences. He too had lost all the ones he loved or cared for through complications caused by his own prideful actions.

The stories of his life he shared with the older man were heavily edited in order to fit his cover-story of a wandering warrior forced into the ways of a brigand in order to survive. He never offered any personal information freely or without prompt, but somehow the old man knew what to say at the end of his own stories to elicit a response from him.

The prisoner he was originally to target in the mission had started a brawl the day before he arrived and earned several months in solitary confinement as a punishment, thus he had to wait it out in order to get to his target. After spending months with nothing to do other than swap tales with the kindly old man he had been surprised when the old man had decided to try and give him a bit of advice.

The Master Carver had been no fool and knew that the strange silver-haired man wasn't exactly what he seemed to be; he shrewdly guessed he wouldn't be serving his entire sentence and offered some advice for when he got out.

Looking back on it he did have to admit that his pink haired former student had figured into more of the stories he had shared with the old man than she should have. Somehow he couldn't blame the older prisoner for the conclusions he had drawn. Instead he forcefully reminded himself that it didn't mean the old man had been right in his observations in regard to his feelings for the pink haired medic because, after all, he didn't know the full story. But he knew, deep down, that at the very least he did have unacknowledged feelings for her. The problem was exactly what those feelings were.

Inwardly he winced at the fact that had been the most startling discovery of all; the old man had definitely hit the nail on the head with this one. The reason he had a soft spot where she was concerned was _not_ because she was a kunoichi and he felt he had to be easier on her because she was innately weaker and in more need of his aid or protection. He had a weak spot for her because he simply couldn't bring himself to stop her from doing the little things he would normally find insanely annoying coming from anyone other than her. And if there was ever something he could do to prevent her from suffering one way or another he would always find himself doing whatever was necessary. Upon making this realization he had been at odds with himself for the remainder of the mission, going so far as to even manage to finish _early_, something that would no doubt go down in the history books – the first and last time Kakashi Hatake ever arrived early for _anything_.

* * *

As soon as her reluctant patient was still she imediately set to work, figuring that if she paused to question his sudden cooporative attitude he may change his mind. Almost absently she reached to pull a kunai from from her pouch, as she had many times before, when he waved her off. Puzzeled, she waited to see what he wanted. Wincing slightly as he moved his arm above chest level, he managed to pull gently at the fabric around his neck. She could see the suggestion of a grin through the grimace of pain as he showed her he had finally given in to his more frugal side and had someone hem the ragged edges of one of the shirts she had already operated on, creating two seperate garmets from the original one.

Unable to help herself she laughed, breaking the tension she had not realized was there until it was gone. "I see you've finally given in to common sense." She raised an eyebrow, "though it would make even more sense to do away with that silly mask entirely." She flushed a little and continued, surprising herself, "from what I've heard you don't have anything to hide."

He chuckled at her halfhearted attempt to get him to vountarily remove his mask and winced a bit at the pain the simple movement of a chuckle caused him. The older shinobi had to give her points for not giving up on catching a glmipse of his face after all these years. Though he wondered what she could have heard and from whom to convince her he had nothing to hide. Gingerly he tried to remove his shirt hissing with pain as he only managed to get it partway up his chest before the pain became too much for him to continue. Sensing his plight, she gently eased the fabric from his unresisting fingers to completely remove the shirt, considerately making sure his mask remained in place. Though she was still dying of curiousity, even after all the years of trying unsuccessfully to catch a glimpse of his face, she wouldn't stoop to trying to remove it when he was in an injured state. It just didn't seem right and it would ruin their game.

Once she removed his shirt she hissed in sympathy. He was sporting a patchwork of dark ugly bruises layered over older and older, but still equally ugly bruises gracing his pale already battle-scarred chest.

"What the hell happened to you?" she exclaimed, unable to stop herself or keep the incredulous tone from her voice.

She was used to seeing him come back with either wounds involving blood - and lots of it - or massive internal damage caused by pushing himself beyond his limits for extended periods of time. He rarely came back with injuries not inflicted by either himself or weapons with razor sharp edges. He was too good for this sort of injury generally caused by close range unarmed combat, his Sharingan – if he were using it – pretty much guaranteed it.

He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, grunting with pain as he moved. "Took a couple hits for a fellow inmate…" he trailed off realizing he probably shouldn't tell her too much since it _was_ classified information and, he silently had to admit, not exactly within the scope of his assigned mission. He had been there to get some information from an inmate, not to befriend and protect an understanding elderly lifer nearing the end of his time.

"A _couple_…" she trailed off realizing that she probably didn't want to know the real story. Grimacing sympathetically she decided not to press further for information. She was actually slightly shocked to get _anything_ out of him and figured not to push her luck. Instead she started the all too familiar process of assessing the damage. As gently as she could she ran her chakra infused hands lightly over the areas with the ugliest bruising, almost afraid of what she would find beneath the badly damaged skin. She inwardly cringed from the broken ribs and carefully probed deeper, leaving small pockets of chakra to encourage proper healing behind as she went, looking for additional internal damage or worse, bleeding.

Breathing a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she was holding she carefully withdrew from him. It had been a long time since she'd actually been worried about one of her 'boys' as she liked to refer to them. Granted the label really was a loose fit at best considering Naruto and Sasuke were, like she would be in a couple days, 22 and Kakashi was well into celebrating the sixth anniversary of his thirtieth birthday. Regardless of the ill fit she still thought of them as her boys. She wasn't exactly sure when or how, but somehow over the past few years her former sensei had been lumped in along with her other boys and she found herself worrying over him just as much as she did Naruto and Sasuke. She had seen many, many shinobi come through the hospital and too many of those who came in didn't make it out. The little worry line in-between her eyebrows disappeared as her concern faded completely. His injuries were nothing she couldn't easily heal, even after a particularly busy day at the hospital.

She started when she felt rather than heard the light chuckle from the erstwhile silent shinobi and flushed suddenly unable to meet his eyes. He had caught her worrying over him. Hastily she gathered her chakra to finish healing him, paying particular attention to his ribs – it was at least the 10th time she had mended them and she wanted to make sure she left no inherent weaknesses to cause them to easily break again. Though judging from the bruising and internal damage they _hadn't_ broken that easily. Once she finished with healing the ugly bruises on his chest she flattened both of her hands completely against him to send tendrils of chakra through the rest of him to make sure she had found and healed everything.

Letting out a deep breath she finally withdrew completely from him for the last time, wiping the small beads of perspiration from her forehead and stretching backwards slightly to remove most of the kinks from her back. Scrunching her back into odd angles for extended periods of time and coming away with stiff shoulder or back muscles was one of the few physical drawbacks of being a medic. Absently she handed him his shirt as she readied herself, still trying to remove that last stubborn kink, to leave as was her usual procedure: force her way in, heal him and leave before he could get angry with her for 'taking advantage of him while he was in a less than optimal state.' Though he had never actually voiced a genuine complaint about her tactics, she always kept it in mind that she was successful in treating him because he _allowed_ her to bully him into submission. It took quite a lot to put him completely out of commission and into such a vulnerable state that anyone could easily care for him and she knew he took pains to avoid it at almost all costs.

"You're all set." She paused before exiting his kitchen to show herself out. "Try to be a little more careful next time, please?" She asked, knowing he couldn't make that promise, but it was what she always said to signal to him she was leaving and was glad to have helped him. And no she wasn't expecting a thank you because she knew he did appreciate it on a deeper level.

Cautiously he shifted rising from the table and testing out his chest muscles before smiling and pulling his shirt back over his head. "Thank you."

"Eh?" she turned, her hand going to the stubborn kink in her neck as she wrenched it. She was faintly startled to be greeted with two smiling eyes and the suggestion of a grin beneath his mask. She knew that on some level he did appreciate her making him cooperate and receive medical treatment, but he had _never_ shown it. Her reward would usually be a grumpy retort as she took her leave and an occasional meal usually several days later and seemingly by chance.

Confusion clearly leaking into her voice she responded, "Um, you're welcome. Er, any time." She smiled brightly through her bewilderment, beginning to wonder if there had been something she had missed, like perhaps a head injury caused by an exceptionally hard rock or maybe an enemy's fist.

He moved closer to her; she figured he was walking her out and obliged starting again toward the door, stopping when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Startled once again she tried to turn to face him but was halted when he added his second hand to her other shoulder effectively keeping her in place.

Feeling more confused than before, her mind raced looking for a rational explanation for his peculiar actions. "Kakashi?" she almost whispered, the rest of the unasked question caught in her throat as she automatically stiffened her body against his hands, not knowing what to expect from her former sensei. He had been acting strangely since she'd arrived. Had she not seen the familiar scar bisecting his left eye, the always activated Sharingan, his slightly faded ANBU tattoo and all of the many familiar scars gracing his chest and arms she would begin to suspect he was an imposter.

She was barely able to suppress a shiver at his voice almost right next to her ear, "Easy now." His hands moved soothingly over her shoulders, down her arms, and back up to her neck again in an effort to get her to relax a little. "Just relax for a moment."

Unsure of what to expect but trusting him completely, she hesitantly let the tension slowly ease from her neck and back muscles at his prompting. As soon as she relaxed a little his hands started to move again, kneading her neck muscles almost inquisitively, as if looking for something. Subconsciously she arched her back a little pressing her neck into his hands as he hit the stubborn kink she had been unable to crack. He chuckled at the little sigh of relief mixed with pleasure he received upon finding and soothing the elusive and stubborn knot. Unbidden his hands loitered on her shoulders for just a fraction of a second longer than strictly necessary before removing themselves.

She flushed, feeling completely unsure why she was reacting to him as she was. His hands had felt incredibly good; working wonders with her work stressed and tensed muscles in an extremely short amount of time. Had he been any other man she may not have thought too much about it, but he wasn't. He was Kakashi Hatake, the legendary Copy Ninja, Kakashi Sharingan, her former teacher and team captain. The first two were fine, it was the third that raised a troubling feeling – it complicated things.

Making an aborted attempt to turn to thank him, but unable to complete the action with the scarlet blush coloring her cheeks and his hands lingering on her shoulders, she settled on nodding her head and mumbling, "thank you," before making a b-line for his door. She completely forgot to mention to him the birthday party she was sure Ino would be throwing for her within the next few days. The pink haired medic had been disappointed when he had left on his last mission. It was long term with an extension and he wasn't expected back until her birthday, meaning anywhere from three days to a week later Kakashi time. She had wanted to have all of her boys back for her birthday, but figured it wouldn't happen with Kakashi away. Ironically enough he had made it back in time and the other two had been sent out on a last minute urgent mission that would keep them away for her birthday and several weeks after. Absently she wondered if some other improbable event would happen, perhaps Tonton would sprout wings and learn to fly. Heck anything seemed possible after the encounter she had just had.

* * *

If she had been just a little bit slower in her departure she might have heard his amused chuckle as he turned back to head toward his kitchen with thoughts of rummaging up something for dinner. Almost absently he had to admit that the old man had it right after all and he hadn't the least clue what to do about his apparent new, or if one were to believe the prisoner old, problem. Suddenly allowing himself to take the time to appreciate the small things in life had taken on a much larger meaning than he had originally realized and it complicated things more than he would ever have thought.

The fact that his hands had lingered on her shoulders of their own accord troubled him. He had enjoyed removing the stubborn kink and had felt more than a sense of satisfaction at the little noise of pleasure that had escaped her lips as he removed it. He set about warming water for tea and instant ramen - drat that Naruto kid for getting him hooked on the noxious but non-perishable stuff - letting his mind wander just a bit to a certain medic and what he could do about her. The old man had convinced him that despite all of the horrible things he had done and all of the times he had failed the ones who meant the most to him he still deserved a little bit of happiness or pleasure here and there – he had just never thought that he would start out in such an inappropriate source. Or rather he had hoped that the old man had been wrong in his diagnosis of either his own dormant or ignored feelings for his former student. Now that he was back he was finding that knowing no longer allowed those feelings to lie dormant or be as easily ignored as had been his custom. Belatedly he realized that his somewhat peaceful, given his profession, and uncomplicated life just became more complicated than he had ever expected.


	2. Chapter Two: Thoughts of Flowers

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Mega huge thank yous to everyone who has reviewed! I hate to admit it, but reviews really make my day! I'm honestly a bit surprised. The positive response has encouraged me to post this chapter a bit earlier than I had anticipated. :) I'm aiming for a once a week timeframe for updates but I may break it next week since I'm having no end of trouble with chapter three. Check my LiveJournal if you're interested in my progress. Oh and I've gone back and fixed chapter one, I didn't realize the little section breaks didn't transfer through to ff.n. This fic is for FlameTwirler, many thanks for taking a look at this before I posted. :D

* * *

Chapter Two: Thoughts of Flowers

Feeling exhausted Sakura slowly made her way into the hospital, nodding a greeting at the two women sitting at the front desk – missing the looks that were exchanged between the two of them – as she continued on to her office. She had slept poorly the night before, or rather not at all. The pink haired kunoichi would have loved to have been able to blame a lumpy or unfamiliar mattress, too much caffeine or even a late night for her lack of sleep, unfortunately she knew better. She was well aware the reason she was feeling tired this morning was due to the fact that she had been kept up for most of the night by her mutinous mind or rather by her over active imagination. Try as she might she just couldn't clear her mind enough to allow sleep to come to her.

The unusual events of the previous evening had played over and over in her mind, making sleep just plain impossible. For some strange reason she couldn't quite get past Kakashi's odd behavior. He actually let her into his apartment without any sort of fight, physical or verbal. He had surrendered himself to her care without any bullying whatsoever. _And_ though he was injured, it wasn't life threatening so he didn't _have_ to allow her to heal him, he just did. When she had finished he had actually thanked her, using words! He never thanked her; generally if _did _do anything he would offer half hearted complaints or a scolding for bothering him as she prepared to leave. In his defense he would usually take her out for lunch a couple days later if he were able to catch up with her again before being sent out on another mission. She usually counted his sporadic lunch invites as all the thanks she would ever get and was grateful for the time she was able to spend with him as a consequence.

But in his behavior the previous evening what she found to be the strangest of all had been the little impromptu massage he had cornered her into as she took her leave. It was something she had never seen him do before and would never have expected to have seen him do. He only rarely allowed his own personal space to be invaded, usually by her, never mind voluntarily invading someone else's personal space outside of sparring and/or actual fighting.

His hands had expertly removed the kink in her neck she had developed while healing him. She would never have thought her former sensei could be well versed at such a thing. Then again she had never really thought about it, or rather, _him_ in that particular way. Yes, on some level she had been aware that he was a man, and after stepping away from thinking of him as her former sensei, quite an attractive one. But these sorts of thoughts were new uncharted territory and very, very dangerous. Therefore she avoided them like the plague.

She had always been more than careful to steer clear of such thoughts when someone or something inadvertently brought them to her mind. Unfortunately this had led to quite an epic quest for the perfect public bath, a quest in which she had ultimately failed. Each time she had found what she thought to be a perfect bath she would find upon sinking down into the relaxing waters the conversations about her would eventually shift to someone she knew. Sasuke she could handle hearing about, Naruto not as well but doable unless those doing the talking realized she knew either of the two personally. Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji or even Shino weren't all that bad, again as long as no one realized she actually knew them. Shinobi were a hot commodity amongst the civilians and most women found them absolutely irresistible. She had always chalked it up to the dangerous lifestyle living mission to mission and the peak physical condition practically required for the profession for the regular women of Konoha's seeming fixation on all things ninja.

Hearing most of the older shinobi being discussed as objects of desire wasn't all that bad so long as it was about men such as Izumo, Kotetsu or Raido. Asuma could be tricky depending on who was around. Granted since he had made the memorial he was no longer a current topic of conversation, but then again it had been quite a long time since she had last frequented a public bath. Iruka was right out embarrassing, but live-through-able as even Anko was hesitant to get too graphic in mentioning the academy instructor when too many of his young current students tended to be around. Heck, even Genma could be tolerable. Though she'd never tell him, he was a frequent topic in the baths and she could only imagine what such a boost to his already enormous ego would do to his already insufferable personality. Unfortunately she had managed to show up once or twice when the older women of Konoha were in the majority and she had been horrified to hear the conversation turn to the king of all perverts Jiraiya.

But the absolute last straw in most places had been when some of the slightly older civilians and kunoichis, amongst them Anko, Suzme, Shizune and Kurenai, had brought up the one person she didn't need to hear women verbally fantasizing about – Kakashi. When she was his student it was awkward and down right embarrassing to say the least. Her presence never seemed to deter the occasionally over enthusiastic kunoichis and civilians, it actually tended to egg them on to new heights or rather lows. The first time it had happened she hadn't been able to look at his face when he was speaking to her, never mind his eye, for a good two weeks. And even after that she had blushed every time he had done one of the things the kunoichis had praised as bringing to light one or more of his physical assets, throwing a kunai, bending over or just plain walking away. She always inwardly cringed at what he must have thought about her actions and reactions to him after she'd had another embarrassing bathing experience. In the end she had given it up as a lost cause and settled for using her own bathtub and the occasional public bath or hot spring whenever she was out of the village.

Shaking her head of the embarrassing memories she pulled her mind back to the present only to have it wander off on her again. Once again her thoughts traveled down the well worn path of remembering the odd encounter and wondering. Over the years Kakashi had proved nothing if only to be a creature of habit – this is what allowed her to successfully track him down for medical treatment whenever he chose to hide. His patterns were complex, depending on many mitigating factors, but once learned were fairly easy for her to follow. She figured she was one of a select few who could, if he were in the village, find him whenever she wished.

His behavior from the previous evening had been completely out of pattern. It was as if something had happened during the course of the mission to knock him slightly off course and she found it unsettling. Or rather she found her own reactions to his actions unsettling. She had _enjoyed_ the feeling of his surprisingly expert hands working on her tense shoulders. If he had been _any_ other man… What she wouldn't give to have a pair of hands like his at her disposal after her more stressful days…

Sighing audibly as she arrived at her office she shook her head to clear the troubling thoughts, moving her flower shaped marker from 'Special' to 'On Duty' before opening her office door. It was going to be an incredibly long day if she couldn't shake her strangely troubling thoughts of her former sensei from her mind to concentrate on her medical work.

She stopped in her tracks upon noticing the beautiful arrangement of early spring wildflowers resting in her coffee mug on her desk. For a moment she stood there staring at them, not quite believing what she was seeing. Incredulously she moved closer, half expecting a green spandexed shinobi to materialize along with the flowers. When she reached them she noticed a tiny scrap of paper almost hidden amongst the flowers. Carefully she pulled the scrap of paper from the arrangement that had been nestled in-between a couple of flowers she couldn't name. One barely legible word was scrawled across the paper: 'Thanks.'

Wrinkling her brow in confusion she made her way behind her desk to sit, still staring at the flowers. Her quiet contemplation was interrupted by the giggling she could hear outside her office door, preceding a knock. Audibly she sighed - it was going to be an even longer day than she had anticipated. The delivery of flowers always made top topic of discussion in the hospital – so far she had been lucky enough not to be on the receiving end of the floral gossip starters. Rock Lee had occasionally given her flowers, but those were always left at her apartment – he had never ventured into the hospital for fear of Tsunade's wrath. She didn't like for Sakura to be distracted while at work and the delivery of flowers was one of the top items on her list of distractions.

The giggling girls outside her door knocked again and she sighed inwardly, slipping the scrap of paper with his thanks into her desk of safekeeping. "Come in."

Two young preteen apprentice medics rushed into her office, faces flushed with excitement. Inwardly she cursed realizing that though she knew the two girls, she had momentarily forgotten their names. One was tall and thin with heavy, long dark hair and dark brown almost black eyes and the other was her complete opposite – short, a bit plump, with short blonde hair and pale blue eyes.

"Miss Haruno, Miss Haruno!" the excited blonde cried, "you got _flowers_!" She pointed as if Sakura may have missed the beautiful bouquet sitting on her desk. "Who are they from?" she asked quite unabashed at posing such a personal question to one of her superiors.

The tall girl cuffed the shorter one gently upside her head, a slow blush coloring her face. "Mine! You can't just come out and ask Miss. Haruno that! You have to learn to be more subtle and less abrupt with these sorts of things!"

The shorter apprentice medic flushed and flashed an apologetic smile at her friend and then at the pink haired kunoichi who was currently trying to keep both her temper and amusement in check.

"I'm sorry Miss. Haruno. It's just that… well…" She trailed off scratching her head almost apologetically. "Um, we have a pool going… See, we're all trying to guess who would be brave or foolish enough to send you flowers…"

The taller apprentice medic flushed with overwhelming embarrassment. "Mine!! Not like that!! No wonder you're failing conversational tactics! You've no concept of subtlety!" She cuffed the shorter girl again, smiling apologetically at the pink haired medic. "Erm, I'm sorry about that Miss. Haruno…We were trying to earn extra credit for class by utilizing subtlety to learn something everyone wants to know…" she trailed off realizing she too had perhaps said too much as well.

Barely able to keep herself from slapping her forehead in disgust she sighed instead. "I'm really very sorry girls, but your guess would probably be as good as if not better than mine," she fibbed. For some reason she didn't want it all over the village that her former sensei had brought her flowers, at least she was fairly certain it was him. She hadn't had too many opportunities to view his handwriting, but his messy scrawl was if anything fairly distinctive. Regardless, everyone would get the wrong idea, not to mention the problems Naruto and Sasuke would cause upon their return. Somehow she figured they wouldn't approve – even if it was just an innocent thank you gift.

They looked at her wide-eyed for a moment in complete and perhaps dubious silence. As far as either of them knew no one had chosen secret admirer for the pool. This was unexpected and being still quite young neither of them had learned to control their emotions in sudden unexpected situations.

"You _sure_ about that?" the over enthusiastic blonde questioned feeling greatly disappointed at not winning the pool and even more disappointed at not succeeding in being subtle.

"You _really_ don't know?" the slightly more suspicious dark haired girl asked, doubtfully. Clearly she suspected Sakura knew more than she was letting on, but she was in no position to demand an answer.

"Sorry. No idea." The older woman shrugged, going for apologetic and hoping she could hit her mark. This was really the last sort of situation she wanted to have to deal with.

"Not even an inkling?" The blonde whined, clearly upset with the undesirable answer.

"Or just the tiniest idea?" The dark haired girl wheedled, her eyes narrowed with faint suspicion.

"Nope. Nothing. Sorry girls, this one will just have to remain a mystery for the time being. Or until the person who left the flowers should choose to reveal themselves." She smiled, managing apologetic and hoped they would leave. "Guess you just have to wait and wonder like the rest of us."

The two girls stood there for a moment longer, unsure of what their next course of action should be. As if on cue they both reached the same conclusion, turned to look at each other and squealed in unison "Miss. Haruno's got a secret admirer!" and dashed out of the office to spread the news.

Inwardly she groaned, not sure if she had just done the right thing or just made it much, _much_ worse. It would be all over the hospital in an hour and through the village by the end of the day. This was going to be an _extremely_ long day. She would have never guessed that her reluctant patient could cause her so much trouble simply by thanking her. Guiltily her mind returned to the previous evening and the feel of his hands on her shoulders but before her mind could wander too far away from her she hastily pushed such thoughts aside to concentrate on her work. Already she could tell that there would be a stream of 'casual' visitors – really curious shinobi wanting to see for themselves the proof that there seemed to be an idiot in the village who was enamored with her.

* * *

Casually Kakashi continued on his way down the street, heading as usual to the memorial. His mind reverted to the little detour he had made earlier just as the sun was cresting the horizon. It had been quite some time since he had last visited his old family home – too many ghosts of his painful past. But taking the advice of his former fellow prisoner he had gone to take another look with unbiased eyes to see the sad truth. Instead of the well maintained and forbidding complex he remembered from his childhood he saw the derelict and depressingly neglected remains of a once proud family home. The gate remained locked and the grounds and house appeared to be compromised only by time. The windows, though intact, were covered with the grime of the past couple decades and the house itself was in need of a new coat of paint at the very least. It wasn't so much a house as the ghost of a place he had once lived.

Shaking his head he decided to avoid the building itself and take a look at the grounds; the few fond memories he still retained were all outside on the grounds. Walking around to the back, where he remembered once had been the most beautiful gardens in all of Konoha, he now found a wilderness instead. Weeds and brush ran rampant through the once meticulously kept flower beds. Upon closer inspection he was surprised to see that several of the hardier species had managed to survive the invasion of untamed nature and were valiantly blooming. It was the end of March and his eyes drifted to his mother's favorite, the cherry orchard, and he was inordinately pleased to see that the trees were in fine health and beginning to blossom. The years of neglect had apparently had little adverse effect on them.

His mind drifted to another Sakura that had been neglected yet seemed none the worse for wear. Feeling guilty for his poor treatment of his only female student he wandered the remains of the garden aimlessly. Soft spot or not he knew he had unintentionally left her out of the loop where more intense training was concerned. And as far as he could see she had never held it against him or faulted him for it. She still came to him after every mission to make sure he was okay, whether he wanted her to or even thanked her or not. She _still_ came, regardless of his actions.

Feeling impulsive he had taken the newly opening cherry blossoms as a sign and done something he had never felt the inclination to do. He had spent several moments collecting the few bravely blooming wildflowers and forming a bouquet. The silver haired jonin was known for his aversion to hospitals, but he thought he could make an exception – especially if no one saw him.

Thinking back on it he had to wonder what had possessed him to do it. It was all over the village now. Though, for reasons of her own, Sakura hadn't divulged the origin of the flowers she had received making the situation far more interesting. Half the village was now convinced she had an idiot for an admirer and the other half thought she had a cunning coward for an admirer. Thinking on it he liked neither of the conclusions drawn by the villagers. Inwardly he sighed, realizing that perhaps he shouldn't have left the flowers for her – or that if he was going to do it he should have done it through the Yamanaka flower shop like a normal person so as to leave the furtive element out of a simple gesture of thanks. But in doing that he would have had to deal with the all powerful Yamanaka gossip mill, which he felt would have blown a simple gesture of thanks completely out of proportion. Either way he would have ended up making a mess of it.

However he _did_ have to inwardly admit that the aftereffects were more than amusing. His former student would have to deal with the entire village keeping tabs on her movements and interactions trying to discern the identity of her 'secret admirer.' A small smile found its way creeping cross his mask clad face as he wondered if the old man's advice of allowing himself to enjoy the simple things in life could extend to teasing the green eyed medic

Unless there was an emergency or he was specifically requested he would have the next couple days off as was the custom upon returning from a long term assignment. He might just have to take her out to lunch to see what her - and the rest of the village's - reaction would be.


	3. Chapter Three: Frogs

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! Each review encourages me to keep plugging away at this fic. I had a terrible time with a couple bits and pieces of this chapter, I'm sure my beta is as thoroughly sick of seeing them as I am! I'm still not one hundred percent pleased with some of it, but I've spent way too much time on it as it is, I need to move on. I've lots of other chapters that are in need of more help than this one. :D Um, right I've rambled long enough – thank you to FlameTwirler my beta for being the utter essence of patience.

* * *

Chapter Three: Frogs

Heaving a sigh of relief Sakura exited the hospital. She had just finished an extended overnight shift, midnight to noon. The pink haired medic _should_ have left at eight or nine but had ended up staying later to help with some of the trainee medics. Now she was both starving _and_ exhausted. She had forgone breakfast with the expectation of leaving the hospital early enough to grab something on her way home. Pausing for a moment in the busy square outside the hospital, she took mental stock of what she had in her cupboards and refrigerator. She had been meaning to go to the market that morning specifically on her way home from work since she had been putting it off all week but since she had spent the couple extra exhausting hours at the hospital she no longer felt the desire to go food shopping even though she really _did_ need to go.

As she debated whether to go home to make something for lunch from her dwindling supply of food or stop somewhere on her way back to her apartment to get something to go, a familiar jonin materialized beside her. She hadn't been expecting him, but for some reason she wasn't particularly surprised. She was, however, faintly embarrassed as she had been hoping to not run into him until she had sorted out whatever it was that had been bothering her about their last interaction. The flowers he had left for her had only served to make things less clear for her than they already were.

"Yo," he raised a hand in his usual greeting, a smile clearly present in his lone visible eye.

She fought to contain the slight blush that threatened to creep over her face. She had been successful in not seeing him since his little impromptu abbreviated massage two days previous and the out of character and seemingly impulsive gift of flowers the day before. Since then she hadn't quite been able to sort out her feelings about either of the incidents in her mind. His behavior had been so strange to her that she just wasn't sure how she felt about either event. She had figured she was doing well until seeing him, and _of course_ it would just have to be when she was not at her best. Finally she pulled herself together with her moment of uncertainty under control she smiled and raised a hand to return the greeting.

"I'm on my way to grab some lunch." He paused as if he were only then just actually looking at her, "you look like you're starving. Why don't you join me?"

She hesitated, unsure if she was really up for dining with him. Aside from the long shift she had just worked, she was still having issues sleeping. Her mind kept rationalizing and re-rationalizing his behavior; the flowers only served to confuse things in her mind even more. As she considered whether to accept she noticed people looking at them and whispering to each other as they walked by or hung around the entrance of the hospital. This was the first time since she had received the flowers that she had been seen with anyone of the opposite sex and she could only imagine what the villagers would begin to say after she was seen with her former teacher.

He sensed her hesitation, but not the correct reason behind it. "Come on, my treat." He smiled again at her encouragingly.

Giving in she decided to ignore both the looks they were gathering and her confusion over his actions. Seeing him in person, acting as he always did, reminded her of one _very_ important factor. This was _Kakashi_ she was dealing with, not some stranger off the street. Removing the knot from her neck was something he would probably do for any of his friends and he doubtless thought nothing of it. The man probably just felt guilty that he'd not only forced her to traipse over to his apartment in the first place, _again_, but that she'd hurt herself in the process. Knowing him, he had most likely felt responsible, despite the fact she'd done it of her own free will, and felt the need to rectify it himself.

She was just making a mountain of a molehill in her mind and the sooner she stopped rehashing it the sooner things could go back to normal between them. The flowers, she figured, were just an impulsive gesture of thanks and nothing more. He was probably even enjoying the little bit of drama he had inflicted upon her by setting off all the village gossips. After all he could just as easily left them at her apartment, or any number of other less public venues.

Heck the fact that he hadn't given them to her in person practically _guaranteed_ that the gossip mongers would immediately begin to speculate. No one in the village would blame her new beau for keeping his identity secret for a little while, _especially_ after her last fairly spectacular break up. Not much had been seen of her last boyfriend, the imprudent man had immediately taken on a four month long mission after their breakup and every other long term mission made available to him ever since.

No – it was fairly clear that he had known exactly what he was doing by leaving them for her in such a public place, full of key members of the Konoha gossip mill. She now had no doubt that her former teacher was enjoying himself, watching the attention she had been collecting for the past day. His first intention may have been to say 'thank you,' but that surely didn't stop him from having a little bit of fun at her expense. Shaking her head from her daze she just now realized the two of them were gathering even more attention in the lunch hour rush standing in front as busy a place as the hospital.

Inwardly shaking her head she dismissed her previous anxiety as silly and only vaguely wished she had run into him sooner. It was foolish to think that he may have had a motive other than that of having a little bit of fun at his former student's expense.

She smiled at him. "As long as it's not Ichiraku." Silently she had to admit to herself that the village would gossip regardless of what she did, so she might as well enjoy herself – especially if it was going to be at Kakashi's expense. Besides because of his busy schedule and recent long term mission he hadn't had the time to take her out and play catch up with her for quite a while and she honestly missed seeing and talking to him.

He chuckled and steered her in the complete opposite direction of the ramen shop, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief as he too was thoroughly sick of ramen. In the prison he infiltrated it had been served almost every other day since it was cheap and filling. Between his recent stint in prison and his own laziness for not having gone to the market he could honestly say he had had enough ramen, both home made and instant, to last him a lifetime.

As they walked, seeing the women on the street gossiping about their current beaus and speculating about the two of them caused her mind to shift to her current love life, or rather lack thereof. Thinking about it she realized that perhaps she had been a little over sensitive to her former teacher's actions because of her recent 'dry spell.' She wasn't one to need a boyfriend to feel validated, though she had enjoyed being in a relationship the few times Naruto and Sasuke had been away long enough for her to find herself in one. Unfortunately most of her relationships, however long or brief, tended to end the same. As soon as her two former teammates turned up in the village the affections of her current love interest would suddenly wane and eventually evaporate entirely. Generally it would start after a visit from one or both of her overprotective friends. She wasn't too sure what it was they said to her boyfriends, but whatever it was tended to be enough to frighten them off for good.

She knew they thought they were doing it for her own good, but occasionally wished they wouldn't. It was certainly nice to know they cared, and she could understand why they did it but honestly she was tired of having either truncated relationships or short lived flings. She didn't exactly want to settle down or get married or anything, but she did want something a little more than what amounted to meaningless sex with men who were too cowardly to even _try_ to stand up to Naruto and Sasuke and fight to be with her.

* * *

She had been a bit pensive and withdrawn on the way to the small café he had silently selected for lunch. He had chosen it due mostly to the fact that it was a bit off the beaten track and not frequented by shinobi as often as some of the other eateries closer to the hokage tower. As he guided her through the streets he was more than aware of the whispers that seemed to follow them. It was the first time people had seemed to actually take notice of him spending time with his former student, which felt strange to say the least.

Honestly he had to admit he was surprised, he was her former teacher and fourteen years her senior. Surely they couldn't imagine something going on between them other than friendship could they? Unfortunately judging from the looks he was collecting, apparently they could and definitely did not approve. He couldn't blame them; he was old and quite frankly damaged. She deserved someone of her own generation, someone not quite so jaded or experienced at life and loss, someone who could give her a happy life not one destined for an unhappy ending.

Viciously he shook those thoughts from his mind. He shouldn't be thinking about something that would never happen, something he would never allow to happen. After all, he was exactly what they said: her former sensei and fourteen years older. The closest he would allow himself to get to her would be as a friend and nothing more. The old man hadn't really known what he was talking about, he must have been mistaken.

Mentally he took hold of himself, realizing what he was thinking was beside the point. He was letting the little old biddies that dictated the direction of the gossip mill affect his thoughts. Of course he had no romantic inclinations toward the pink haired woman, regardless of what the gossiping women _or_ the old man from the prison had thought. It was only his whimsical action the day before that had brought upon this extra intensive scrutiny of her personal life. The gossip mill was frustrated at not having someone to attach the gift of flowers to and was grasping at the first male candidate to interact with her on a more personal level than that of patient and medic. In other words he was only paying the price of setting her up in the first place. He had intended the flowers to be a thank you gift, but had truthfully enjoyed the bit of drama they were causing her personal life. Inwardly he groaned once he realized that his little bit of fun had backfired on him.

* * *

Once they arrived at the small café, the two shinobi carefully made their way to the booth furthest from the windows and other patrons peacefully eating their lunches. After surveying the menus, both placed orders and settled down to wait for their food and drinks.

As they sat she scanned the small café, wondering just what the local wags were saying about her _now_. Out of the corner of her eye the medic noticed something that made her slump further down in her seat.

His eyes were drawn to her movement. "Ashamed to be seen with your old teacher," he chuckled at her action, suspecting he knew full well why she was trying to hide.

"Shut it, you! This is all _your_ fault you know!" she hissed, hoping the pair of adolescent trainee medics hadn't seen her.

He laughed. "Come on Sakura, it can't have been all _that_ bad."

She glared at him silently, waiting for the two girls to pick up their orders and leave.

Just as the two were leaving the shorter girl happened to glance her way, accidentally making eye contact with the green eyed medic.

"Aw shit," she muttered under her breath as the two apprentice medics approached.

He looked at her inquiringly, unable to see the two girls approaching from behind him.

"Hi! Miss Haruno!" the blonde haired girl waved exuberantly as she made her way over to their table, dragging her taller friend with her.

Upon reaching the table the taller girl smiled apologetically. "Hello Miss Haruno."

Forcing a smile she wasn't feeling she made a gesture of greeting. "Hi girls, on your lunch break?" Inwardly she hoped they were on a tight schedule. She didn't feel like explaining anything to the girls. Regardless of the fact that she was only having a completely innocent lunch with her former teacher, she somehow figured they would be able to twist it into something more than what it was.

"Oh yes! The double chocolate chip muffins here are the _best_!" the blonde exclaimed happily. "We come here whenever we have a long enough break! The muffins make it worth the extra time it takes."

"Oh really? I'll have to try one for dessert then."

The dark haired girl caught sight of a white clad medic currently waiting for his food and hurriedly checked her watch. Her mouth opened in surprise and she squeaked in dismay. "Come on Mine! Let's leave Sakura to her lunch with her … er, father. We're _already_ late!" She grabbed her friend's arm to pull her away and smiled hastily at Sakura. "Nice seeing you Miss Haruno, and um if anyone asks you didn't see us, okay?" Quickly she nodded at the un-introduced silver haired man and bodily dragged her friend off with her into the crowd of people toward the exit of the café.

The short blonde waved disappointedly before being pulled out of sight, though not hearing distance as they clearly heard her whine, "but _Kotoko_ we didn't get to find out _who_ she was with! Did you see all that gray hair? He looked _far_ too old to be her _father_…"

"Mine shhh! That's none of our business. Besides didn't you see Dr. Kagurazaka waiting for his food? We're dead meat if he finds us out here fifteen minutes after our lunch break ended!"

"But _Kotoko_… Miss. Haruno… _way_ _older_ shinobi…" the blonde's voice faded into the background noise of the café as the two young trainee medics exited the café.

Once the girls were completely out of sight and sound the pink haired woman let out the laughter that she had been suppressing, ignoring the death glare directed her way from across the table.

* * *

Once she'd released all her mirth at his expense she idly she toyed with the straw and the ice in her half empty cola as they waited for their meal. "You know what Kakashi?"

She had been deep in thought ever since the girls had taken their leave and her laughter had finally subsided. He couldn't see why she found something that he thought of as distinctly _unfunny_ to be amusing. Granted he knew he sort of deserved it since the mess she currently seemed to be in _was_ at least partially his fault for stirring up the local gossips but still, in his mind that didn't merit such a reaction at the inappropriate assumption about his age.

"Hmm?" he asked pulling his gaze from a pair of overly curious housewives gossiping over coffee two booths away. His amusement in the whisperings of the women was definitely starting to wear thin. Inwardly he prepared himself for something big, what he wasn't sure, but by her expression she was definitely more contemplative than he had seen her in a long time.

She didn't bother to look up at him to return his gaze. "It's just not worth it." She viciously stabbed her ice cubes with the straw.

"What?" he asked with some confusion. "What's not worth what?" His attention now fully on her – there were many things she could be talking about, her chosen profession as a medic, or even as a kunoichi for starters. Though he honestly couldn't imagine she could be questioning her chosen profession, he could tell it was something of equal magnitude.

She looked up at him in surprise, just then realizing she had vocalized what she had been thinking. "Eh, um… never mind. I was just thinking, that's all."

"What's not worth it Sakura?" he repeated, his curiosity aroused by her original seemingly cryptic remark.

"Uh, um nothing, really. It's nothing." She looked back down at her cola.

"Sakura, clearly it's _not_ nothing. You've been sitting there steadily and silently chipping away at the ice in your soda for the past fifteen minutes." He waited for a moment before realizing he wasn't going to receive a response. "Obviously something is bothering you so spit it out."

"Never mind, I was just thinking, talking to myself really." She paused, trying to find the magic phrase to get him to stop asking her about it. "I didn't really intend to say it out loud."

He chuckled. "But you did. And furthermore you even addressed the comment to me. Now _what's_ not worth it?"

She sighed, knowing defeat when she felt it. "Kissing all the frogs."

"Eh … what's this about kissing frogs?" He asked with clear confusion in his voice. He wondered briefly if he was so out of touch with, what he considered to be the younger generation, that he had somehow missed a new slang phrase involving frogs.

She flushed a little, looked up to catch his puzzled gaze and made a face. "Oh um not _actual_ frogs." She laughed a little nervously. "Men. My mother always said a girl has to kiss a lot of frogs before she finds her prince…" she trailed off, looking down as she begun pushing her ice cubes around the glass again. "I guess I'm just sick of it…"

"I still don't think I'm getting what you're saying… You're sick of kissing men? Or rather kissing men isn't worth it?" He forwent the confusion and went straight on to incredulity.

"Dating, et cetera. It's more trouble than it's worth, you know?"

Only barely was he able to conceal his complete surprise as the meaning of her statement finally hit him. "Uh, aren't you a little young to be deciding that?" He couldn't quite believe that someone as young as she would make such a jaded judgment about her life.

She shook her head glancing up to catch his expression. "What's age got to do with it?"

"Quite a lot I should think. Don't you think you should wait until you're at least _my_ age before you should even think about making such a decision?" he smiled hoping to give his statement a sense of levity he was far from feeling. He couldn't quite imagine where her recent decision could be coming from; as far as he was aware she hadn't recently come out of an ill-fated relationship or anything of similar consequences.

She looked at him questioningly for a moment as if not quite understanding. "What does _age_ have to do with relationships?" Before he could even begin to formulate a response she continued. "Age has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter if I'm almost twenty-two or almost fifty-two – in the end it's still just not worth it."

Deciding to humor her, even if he didn't particularly agree, he rose to her bait. At the very least he would find out what was _really_ bothering her, though he suspected he may know. "Okay… so why don't you think dating is as you say 'worth it'?" Guiltily he wondered if maybe he shouldn't have left those flowers for her. Perhaps he may have inadvertently contributed the last straw for the troubled kunoichi.

She sighed again and looked around the little café. Even though they were seated in a booth far in the back, they might as well have sat out front in the window for all the interest they seemed to be generating.

"It's always the same. Not worth the effort." Her voice was flat, suggesting a finality he hated to hear from her at what he considered to be such a young age.

"Sakura…" he started, unsure what to say to her but positive he needed to convince her she was wrong, concern clearly present in his voice.

She continued as though she hadn't heard him. "They're all cowards. Not one of the men I've dated has even _hesitated_ in calling it quits once Naruto or Sasuke returned to the village…"

A light slowly dawned on the confused Copy Ninja as he realized what was _really_ bothering the pink haired woman sitting across from him. "You know you could ask them to back off… I'm fairly certain they would if you really wanted them to."

"That's not the _point_! As much as I'd like to blame those two over protective idiots, it's not _entirely_ their fault."

"What do you mean?"

"Well …" she blushed a deep scarlet, suddenly wondering how she had gotten into this conversation with _him_ of all people. It wasn't one she'd ever thought to have with _Ino_ never mind her occasionally overprotective former sensei. "I, uh… Oh never mind, it's silly. Forget about it."

"Come on Sakura, out with it. Whatever it is, is clearly bothering you," he cajoled, having the distinct feeling of déjà vu.

"You'll laugh, forget it, it's _really_ stupid."

"Sakura, look at me." When she didn't look up to meet his gaze he reached across the table and lifted her chin to raise her eyes to his. "I promise I won't laugh."

Fidgeting she opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. He released her chin and she immediately looked back down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers a little. When she spoke, her voice was hardly above a whisper. "If I stopped them… then how would I _really_ know?"

Frowning in confusion he tried to make sense of what she had just said in relation to everything else she had mentioned. "I'm sorry Sakura, I don't follow."

She sighed, "no, I suppose you wouldn't."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she quickly cut him off.

"If they were to stop springing their little challenges on the men I date…" she paused, seemingly having a hard time getting the words out. "I want a man who is willing to fight for me, he doesn't have to _actually_ fight, just care enough to be _willing_ to… I don't think Naruto and Sasuke would really go up against anyone. I think they figure if he's not willing to fight for me then he doesn't deserve me…" She sighed again. "It's kind of sweet in an utterly old fashioned semi-insulting kind of way…"

He opened his mouth to say something and found he couldn't think of anything. She had completely surprised him once again.

She sighed and went back to absently stabbing at the ice cubes in her cola, though her heart clearly wasn't in it. "It's kind of disheartening to know that I've meant to so little to _all_ of the men I've dated…"

"Now Sakura, you _know_ that's not true."

"No, maybe not… But it sure _feels_ that way."

"Sakura…"

"I guess it just feels worse because I can't really blame anyone but myself for it. Sometimes I just wish I could blame those interfering idiots for being so strong. Maybe if they _weren't_, one of the guys I've dated may not have given me up quite so quickly."

"C'mon Sakura, you're being much too hard on yourself…" he paused and added, almost reluctantly, "I know there are _some_ good guys out there."

"Yeah right," she huffed.

"Sakura I know you're frustrated… but I'm sure there _are_ guys who wouldn't run from Naruto and Sasuke…"

"Yeah, says one of the few shinobi in this village who could seriously take them on if he felt like it." She stabbed at the melting ice in her cola again unaware of the implications of what she had just said.


	4. Chapter Four: Happy Birthday!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many, many thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I'm ashamed to admit that reviews keep me going. :) I also have to give my most profound thanks to my absolutely fabulous beta, FlameTwirler, who did the impossible for me! This chapter is two times my usual length because it actually _is_ two chapters. My wonderful beta suggested I combine the two since they take place in the same place with the same cast at the same event. So she was kind enough to do two chapters in less than a week. This leads me to the bit of tricky that will be chapter five, formerly known as chapter six… It's an absolute mess and I now have a week less to get it into posting shape… I'm going to try, but if I can't get it post-able by next weekend I'll post a cookie/teaser in my LJ to tide anyone over until I can post it.

Two other things before I let you guys go on to read the next chapter. The first is a restatement of the obvious, I'm not Japanese. You'll note the lack of honorifics in my writing, and in this chapter the fact that I'm using the American spellings for _all_ names and words. This is an intentional decision on my part – I wanted to pick one fandom (Official American Manga/Anime released materials) and stick with it to be consistent. I did not want pick and choose bits when and where I felt it appropriate, that's cheating. ;p The second item is the ages of the characters. I have the lovely Anime Episode guide (only good for 1-37, but still with some nifty material) and have checked (and double checked) online with various resources to make sure I was correct. If I'm wrong please politely point me to an _official_ source proving my assumption wrong. Otherwise, please just take my word for it… I _know_ I'm going to get flack on both of these items anyway, but I hoped a little explanation before hand might cut down on just how much I may receive. Thanks & sorry for my little mini rant…

* * *

Chapter Four: Happy Birthday!

Sakura wondered belatedly, as she paused by the entrance of the local pub, if they would notice just how late she really was, when she was rudely shoved completely through the door.

"C'mon Sakura! We're _late_!" her blonde friend snapped irritably. "We _could_ have gotten here on time if you hadn't kicked up such a fuss over something as silly as a wardrobe change."

The blonde turned to eye the pink haired girl irritably. She didn't see anything wrong with the clothes she had brought for the medic nin. Well, maybe the skirt was a little on the short side for one without shorts underneath, and Sakura wasn't exactly known for wearing back and shoulder bearing, cleavage enhancing strappy tops… On the whole those sorts of clothes were highly impractical for her line of work and over the past few years Sakura had become nothing if not practical about her wardrobe. A girl could only ruin so many trendy feminine outfits with irremovable blood and gore stains or irreparable rips before learning the lesson of practical fabrics and clothing styles.

"I can't _believe_ it was so difficult to get you into something girly for the evening!"

The look the pink haired kunoichi shot the blonde spoke volumes of thinly veiled violence.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, giving this one up as a lost cause as she grabbed her friend's arm. "Come _on_, we've reserved the room out back for your birthday bash and I'm sure you've kept everyone waiting long enough."

Sakura sighed and allowed her friend to pull her further into the pub, ignoring the stares she knew she was gathering. Ino's idea of appropriate evening apparel did not quite match the medic's, and as a consequence even Ino's idea of conservative was a far cry from anything Sakura would have ever considered wearing on her own even at her most provocative. _Inner_ Sakura though was doing a very loud happy dance and thoroughly enjoying the extra attention. It had been quite a while since she had donned anything sexy and reveled in the male attention she generated. Between her work schedule and her boys, she was rarely ever presented with an opportunity to do so without someone getting hurt – whether an admirer from afar or up close, it never mattered to her boys.

She didn't have long to contemplate the extra attention she seemed to be gathering as Ino promptly pulled her through the crowded pub and into the back room. She was met with a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday.' The more than a few appreciative looks, cat calls and wolf whistles as she entered the room were due to the fact that Sasuke and Naruto were away on an unexpectedly extended mission and had not been able to return in time for their pink haired friend's birthday.

Doing her best to control the blush currently trying to match her skin to her hair, she smiled and thanked the boisterous roomful of shinobi. Ino happily led her to a table in the center of the room where she could be surrounded by her friends. As she took her place her happy eyes scanned the crowd; she wasn't really sure who she was looking for, but for some reason she felt that someone was missing. After a moment she realized that as late as she was, _he_ was not about to be out done in his own area of expertise.

* * *

As always he was late, though he had been early enough to see her make her entrance into the pub being pulled along by her blonde bombshell of a friend. Not for the first time he was thankful for his mask, it disguised the fact that his jaw had actually dropped for a second before he was able to gather his wits. Inwardly he smiled for a moment, realizing that for as long as he had known her she could still surprise him. A small part of him had to admit that though he had long ago acknowledged she had grown up, he had never really allowed himself to realize how attractive she had become in the process. The larger part of him that usually censored such thoughts hefted a large two by four and pointed to the closet in the darkest corner of his mind where he felt such inappropriate and morally wrong thoughts rightfully belonged. She was his former student and fourteen years his junior, he would never allow himself forget those vital factors, even if she _did_ happen to look as though she may have stepped from the pages of a future volume of Icha Icha.

Watching from one of the darker corners of the pub he noted the other appreciative and appraising stares she gathered as she was pulled across the room. His faint feeling of pleasant surprise faded quickly. Feeling annoyed and not quite sure why, he decided to wait a bit longer before heading to the back room for the party.

A couple cups of sake later he decided he had waited long enough. Casually he stood, left a couple bills on his table and made his way to the back room. Upon entering, he found the scene was exactly as he had expected to see. She was surrounded by her friends, currently Ino and Hinata to one side and Tenten and Shizune to her other with an ever growing stack of presents accumulating on the table next to her. She also seemed to have an impressive collection of sake bottles in various states of being emptied in front of her. Almost absently he noted that one of the tiny straps valiantly holding the bit of fabric masquerading as a top in place had slipped a bit down her shoulder onto her upper arm. His eye narrowed a little seeing several of the calculating looks she seemed to be so blithely unaware of and irrationally he decided to do something about them.

Nonchalantly he made his way over to the table to add his small brightly colored package to the stack at her side. Placing a hand on her shoulder to move the strap that had slipped back into place he casually leaned over to wish her a happy birthday. To his surprise she flushed faintly as she turned to look up at him and smile genuinely as she thanked him.

"Aw, Kakashi you really didn't have to get me anything you know."

"Nonsense, you always manage to find something thoughtful for me, the least I can do is get something nice in return for my favorite female student." He lifted his hand from her shoulder, where it had unintentionally lingered, and was only just barely able to prevent himself from ruffling her hair as he had when she was younger. Inwardly he had to admit he had probably leaned in just a little closer than was strictly necessary to speak to her, but he used the noise level of the room to justify his invasion of her space to himself. And as for adjusting the strap of her top, well that was easily explained by the fact that he wouldn't want her, no matter how skilled a shinobi, to find herself in an awkward situation caused by her clothing.

She beamed at him happily and giggled a little as the sake she was drinking slowly started to take effect, "Kakashi I _was_ your _only_ female student."

He raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise, "hmm, imagine that. Guess that means you're definitely my favorite then doesn't it?" He winked and was unable to stop his hand from ruffling her more than likely carefully coifed hair.

She playfully swatted his hand away. "Kakashi!"

Feeling satisfied with the results of his greeting he found a chair at one of the adjoining tables with Guy and Iruka. Pointedly he arranged the chair in a seemingly offhand manner to allow himself a clear view of the birthday kunoichi and those milling around her. He had always known of his effect on her social life, although he surmised she had forgiven him for it long ago, otherwise he reasoned he would have received some sort of angry lecture from the fiercely independent medic nin.

Despite the fact he had never shown his actions in any way, shape, or form to be _particularly_ protective of her, no one dared approach her in anything more than a strictly platonic manner when he was around. It was the same effect Naruto and Sasuke tended to have, but without any actual effort on his part.

All he had to do was to make his presence known in the same room as her and the offending man would recoil back from her, suddenly remembering something urgent he had to do on the other side of town. He had found it vaguely amusing when she was younger and had continued to do it until he was sure she was old enough and could handle herself, but now… He wasn't quite sure why he had just done it again since he knew and acknowledged that she had long since outgrown the need for his protective assistance. All he could offer up in his defense was that it seemed to be necessary at the time.

Once he was seated he poured himself another cup of the potent rice wine from the communal bottle at the table.

The academy teacher next to him cleared his throat almost hesitantly. "Er Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" he responded noncommittally; he figured he knew what would be coming and wanted to be sure to play what he had just done off correctly. With a practiced motion he pulled out the latest volume of Icha Icha to put the mostly mild mannered academy teacher ill at ease.

He had perhaps overdone his banter with the birthday kunoichi. Now if he wasn't careful some of the less drunk shinobi may mistake his conversation with her as _flirting_.

The younger shinobi chuckled nervously bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "Kakashi… um, you weren't just…"

He silver haired man lowered his book to shoot Iruka an inquisitive glance. "I wasn't just what?" He kept his voice completely flat and unemotional, managing to pull off mild disinterest.

Feeling as though he may have inadvertently wandered into a mine field the academy teacher sighed. "Never mind. Must have been imagining things that's all…"

The green spandexed shinobi to his other side discretely leaned a little closer to him to speak in what he thought was barely above a whisper but was in fact still loud enough for those at the adjoining tables to hear. "You do know she _is_ a grown woman who _can_ take care of herself now, right?"

The elite jonin, feeling sorely put upon for his tiny public display, didn't bother looking up from his book when he responded. "I've no idea what you're talking about."

The bushy browed shinobi and the academy teacher exchanged glances and mutually decided to let the matter go as it was clearly a lost cause

* * *

She noticed almost immediately the effect her former sensei had on the sort of attention she was receiving that evening. She had to admit though that while his actions were completely within normal for him, they seemed slightly off for the setting. On occasion he would do little things for her, things a father, brother, close friend or lover may do – quickly adjust some askew article of her clothing after a particularly vigorous spar or help her to hide when Rock Lee became a little over persistent – but never in a highly public place where people may actually _see_ him. She knew he had kept a watchful eye on her while she was younger, and had at the time bitterly resented it, but he had stopped years ago. She now had the wisdom of hindsight to appreciate what he had done for her.

Inwardly she had to shudder at some of the guys she had thought to take up with when she was younger. Drunk with the freedom of not having Naruto and Sasuke around to chase away any potential date material, she had not thought too much about the types of guys she dated. Unfortunately, for the most part the only ones willing to try and pick her up by that point were of the sleazy, up-to-no-good variety.

She'd been absolutely _livid_ upon finding that one by one they had suddenly lost interest, inauspiciously after an assignment or 'training session' with her former sensei. It had taken her a couple years to finally work up the courage to ask him to stop when without warning he finally did so of his own accord. Absently she wondered if he may be feeling a little nostalgic or if he could perhaps have had other motives – though what those motives could possibly be she couldn't imagine.

The blonde woman sitting next to her sighed audibly and shot a dirty look at the completely unruffled Copy Ninja as she huffed to her friend, "Well there goes all the effort I put into making you look good."

"Huh?" the pink haired birthday kunoichi asked her friend absently toying with her sake cup. Secretly she was reveling in feeling that, for the first time that evening since she had donned her friend's ridiculous clothes, she was _not_ some sort of rare oddity on display.

"Aw, c'mon! Don't act dumb about this with me! I know you know that your perverted ex-sensei just about killed all chances of you going home with someone tonight." The blonde angrily retorted.

"Ah, _that_…" she paused in apparent thought for a moment. "Actually it's probably a good idea."

"What?! You've _got_ to be joking!" the blue eyed woman tried in vain to keep her calm. "When the hell was the last time you actually allowed yourself to have a little fun? You've kept yourself cooped up in that miserable hospital building far too long! This is too good of a chance to pass up!! Both Naruto _and_ Sasuke are out of town for the first time in _months_!"

The pink haired kunoichi shrugged, sending a covert glance over to the silver haired shinobi in question. He appeared to be only partially involved in a series of games of janken with an increasingly annoyed Guy. She hid her smile behind her sake cup as she realized that Guy must have challenged Kakashi to an undetermined number of games over the years and was still unaware of one the less honorable uses of the Sharingan and the fact that currently Kakashi's forehead protector was just askew enough to allow its use. She had seen Naruto lose to Sasuke similarly on many occasions. Sadly the blonde shinobi never seemed to either catch on to what Sasuke was doing or learn that he literally could never win.

She was startled from her reverie as Ino angrily snapped her fingers in front of her eyes.

"You're not even paying attention to what I'm saying!"

"Oh, er sorry. Just thinking…"

"Well, as I was saying you can't let that old _pervert_ dictate your life!"

"He's not old," she uttered the almost automatic response to any reference as her former sensei's age. "I'll remind you that a certain lecherous senbon wielding shinobi, one you _yourself_ fooled around with for a while, is _older_ than my former sensei."

Her friend's eyes widened. "No _way_! I don't believe it." She grasped at straws, "I mean look at his _hair_. It's totally gray."

"Hmm, _yes_ way. He's either a couple months or three years older… I forget exactly. But that's beside the point, which is that he actually _is_ older. And as far as I can tell Kakashi's hair was always that color," she laughed mostly to herself, "something I can certainly relate to."

"Well that still doesn't excuse his behavior." The annoyed blue eyed kunoichi crossed her arms across her chest, sulking about her friend's startling revelation. The shaggy brown haired man certainly didn't _act_ older than her friend's former sensei.

The birthday kunoichi sighed and gestured at the various sake bottles in front of her, "Well judging from all these and the ones that will probably be coming all evening…" she let it hang suggestively hoping she wouldn't have to spell it out to her friend.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You'll probably be a bit smashed by the end of the evening, _so_ _what_?"

It was Sakura's turn to roll her eyes. "_So_ I probably won't be in any kind of a state to make any sort of clear decisions. I was wondering how I was going to make sure I didn't do something I may regret. I don't feel like being taken advantage of while I'm not thinking clearly tonight." She shrugged, "Now I don't have to. Problem solved."

The blonde woman continued to stare at her in utter incomprehension.

Sakura felt the need to justify herself a little more. "It's just what Naruto and Sasuke would have done. No harm no foul, I'm used to it." Inwardly she figured that if a guy wouldn't approach her around Kakashi, then he would certainly fail her boys test _and_ confirm her recent decision that dating wasn't worth the trouble. Though she _definitely_ did not need to let this information slip to Ino, one of the largest cogs in the Konoha gossip mill.

"But that's just the point!"

"Eh?"

"Those two overprotective idiots are out of town. Tonight's a chance to cut loose, have a little fun and maybe even meet someone to date a little before those two former teammates of yours return. Why the hell do you think I spent so much time making you look drop dead gorgeous?!"

"Oh, um…" Sakura paused in thought for a moment before continuing, "hadn't really thought if it like that." Inwardly she sighed; she didn't _want_ to think about it like that.

"Damn right you didn't!" the blonde huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

The birthday kunoichi shrugged again, "It still doesn't make much difference now, does it?"

"Huh?"

"Well, what's done is done and I'm still not particularly all that upset about it. Though if you had maybe mentioned your intentions before we arrived I may have done something about it… But to be honest it's kinda nice to know someone is looking out for me."

The blue eyed kunoichi rolled her eyes. "Yeah a lazy, perverted, battle scared, emotionally challenged man who happens to be your former teacher – great catch Sakura."

"Ino, I don't know what you're talking about. Kakashi is only two of those things, my former teacher and a man. And what's this about a _catch_? Where did you get _that_ from? He was only looking out for me as he has done on occasion in the past, nothing more."

Sighing audibly the blonde kunoichi threw her hands up in the air dramatically, "You're absolutely hopeless. I don't know why I even try sometimes." Washing her hands of the birthday girl she rose to find her own sake bottle and someone to share it with.

He didn't have to be a lip reader to know what Sakura's blonde friend was arguing with her over. But he was surprised at Sakura's apparent appreciation for what he had done. Fondly he remembered how worked up she used to get when he had pulled a similar stunt when she was younger. He had to admit that he had found it quite amusing to watch her color slowly change from pale to flushed and then her eyebrow twitch and on rare occasions her fingers clench into fists before she started yelling and occasionally hitting. Granted she had never done so directed at _him_. It had taken a few years for her to work up the courage to demand that he stop. Of course he had just been waiting for her to work herself up to it; once she had done so he had stopped – probably irritating her to no end.

Turning his mind back to the present he figured that she either didn't think to question his motives or trusted him enough not to need to know why he had just ensured no male in the room would go near her for the rest of the night with less than honorable intentions. Either way he thought it was a good thing since he honestly couldn't say why he had done it in the first place. Mentally he shrugged; the more he thought about it the more he was making something of nothing, especially since she apparently didn't think anything of it.

* * *

Taking stock of the room she realized that perhaps they should have decided to open presents before most of the shinobi in attendance had either passed out or discretely made their exit with a companion for the evening. The only ones still in attendance, both physically _and_ mentally, were: Ino, Hinata, Tenten, Choji, Rock Lee, Neji, Genma, Kurenai and Kakashi. Oh well, that wasn't going to stop her from enjoying the gifts she had received. Shaking her head she reached for the first present on the stack.

It was cylindrical package, inwardly she sighed. She had hoped that this birthday would be different from her last few when she had received more medical scrolls and various sorts of weapons than she knew what to do with, and now feared that she may be in for a repetition of gifts from different givers. Cautiously she pulled the, of course most of them were wrapped in pink, paper from the scroll. At first glance it appeared to be an average scroll of the blank variety, feeling puzzled she broke the seal and unraveled it a bit to see what it was. As she unrolled a beautiful watercolor of a well known hot spring resort appeared. Knitting her brow in puzzlement she continued to unroll the scroll until some writing finally appeared and gasped at what it said.

Hastily she looked up in amazement to see if her three closest kunoichi friends were still in the room. While she had been opening her present they had made their way to her side, grinning like the cats that had just gotten into the cream, so they could catch her immediate reaction.

"Happy birthday Forehead! That's for the four of us girls," the blonde woman managed to only slightly slur her words. "You've been working too hard at the hospital so we decided you needed a break."

"And since you wouldn't take a vacation on your own we decided to give you one instead!" the dark haired weapons mistress interrupted her blonde friend.

"Yes, h-happy birthday Sakura. W-we thought it m-may be fun to go away for a girls only w-weekend." The shy woman stammered only slightly, due mostly to the alcohol in her system. She had at some point overcome the worst of her social shyness, her stammer only returning when she had had a little too much to drink or Naruto had paid her more attention than usual.

Smiling she rose to hug all three of her friends. "Thank you!! This is going to be so much fun, I can't _wait_ to go!"

"Everything is all set; we've cleared the time with Tsunade and made all the reservations. All you have to do is pack and come." Her longtime blonde friend patted her shoulder affectionately.

"Oh wow, I can't believe it! I want to say it's too much…" she paused flushing slightly at the admission she was about to make. "But I'm already looking forward to going too much to try and refuse! Thank you, all of you!"

The three kunoichi hugged her again and resumed their positions around the table to observe the birthday girl open the rest of her presents.

She reached for another gift. This one had a card attached and was, of course, also wrapped in pink paper and about the right size for clothing. Curiously she opened the card to find out who the gift was from and she felt the color drain from her face a little as she read the name. With a slight feeling of unease she pulled the paper from the box only to tint a shade of pink to match that of the pale pink paper in which it had been wrapped. Seeing the name 'Kunoichi's Secret' printed across the box and knowing who it was from she _really_ didn't want to open it in public but knew it would be rude not to. Images of completely inappropriate items of the intimate nature flashed before her eyes filling her stomach with dread. She looked up to find him grinning at her and her blush intensified. He _would_ have to get her something from 'Kunoichi's Secret,' though she doubted he would have had the guts to give it to her if her boys had been in town.

Cautiously, as if it were filled with explosive tags, she opened the box and closed her eyes as she brushed the tissue paper aside. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes, hoping against hope that it wouldn't be _too_ humiliating. The name on the box practically guaranteed it would be embarrassing, the only question would be just _how_ _long_ she'd have to go into hiding after opening it.

Nestled inside the box was something matte black and silky. Unable to bring herself to pull it completely from the box and hold it up for everyone to see, she settled on lifting it partially from the box. As she did so she found that it was of more substantial construction than she had first assumed. It was definitely _not_ sleepwear, something for which she was eternally grateful. However she still earned a few wolf whistles and inappropriate comments as she examined the silky piece of clothing, which only served to resurrect the blush that had faded once she realized it was not night apparel.

The giver rose and made his way to her side to claim his hug and thanks from the pink haired medic. "It's a little black dress. I was told no kunoichi should be without at least three or four of them." He winked, switching his senbon from one side of his mouth to the other. "You can wear it when we go out."

"Uh, Genma?"

"Yes my cherry blossom?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Not that I can think of…Oh!" He leaned in close enough so that she would be the only one to hear his comment. "Should I have gotten you a bra and panties to go under it?" Instinct told him to duck before he completed the question.

Her hand visibly twitched, but remained motionless as she watched him duck the anticipated blow. Instead she decided to pretend she hadn't heard his comment and raised an eyebrow. "Well don't you think the fact that I've never agreed to go _anywhere_ with you and I'm disinclined to change my mind about that might pose just a little problem to your plan?"

"Oh _that_," he grinned as widely as the senbon in his mouth would allow and gestured vaguely. "Not a problem. I know you will eventually say yes, and when you do I'd like you to wear the dress."

She stared at him for a moment, completely dumbstruck by his utter confidence in his skills of persuasion. Shaking her head she smiled. "What the heck, I'll wear it. But I can tell you right now I don't have any intentions of _ever_ going out with you."

"No worries my little blossom. Just you wait, you will. And when you do, you'll wear that sexy little dress." He paused for a moment before adding with a touch of concern, "It's not to be worn before we go out please. I wouldn't want some other man having the chance to see you wearing it before I do."

Feeling uncertain all of a sudden she gave him a quick hug and ignored his turned cheek waiting for a kiss. She swatted him away and he resignedly made his way back to his seat with thoughts of maybe finding someone else to spend the night with once the obviously reticent kunoichi had finished opening her presents. He hadn't given up on her, oh no; it would take more than her flat out refusal to persuade him to give up on the idea of pursuing her. He was absolutely positive that he would eventually win her over, given enough time and the right circumstances. Unfortunately he would have to bide his time until the right opportunity presented itself and it didn't seem likely to be that evening since for some strange reason her former teacher appeared to be keeping a watchful eye on her.

She pulled the next present from the slowly diminishing pile. It was a small brightly colored package; she smiled as she remembered the shinobi who had deposited it in the pile. She was grateful that not only had the paper _not_ been pink but the shape and size of it had indicated it couldn't be any sort of weapon she was familiar with. Besides, she knew that he was hardly likely to give her something that would require him to actually _teach_ her again.

With a slight start she realized she had been staring at the package for a couple moments and quickly pulled herself into action, carefully removing the paper to reveal a plain cardboard gift box. Upon opening the box she found a smaller beautifully carved and inlaid box. Carefully she extracted it from the packaging; it was done all in natural wood tones depicting a still pond with a pair of raised water lilies floating peacefully in the center. She raised it to catch the light and almost dropped it at the chorus of 'oooos' and 'ahhhhs' from the remaining somewhat sober women in the room.

"Oh wow…" she was stunned. She would never have thought that Kakashi of all people could find her such a thoughtful and beautiful gift. She would _definitely_ have to put some real effort into finding him the perfect gift for _his_ next birthday.

More surprised than she ever thought she could be over a gift she carefully opened the lid to find a simply finished interior without dividers. As she was about to close it she noticed something on the inside of the lid. She opened it again to find what appeared to be wooden teeth. Curiously she touched the teeth to find that they moved at her touch and the weight of the lid shifted a little. Carefully she moved a hand to the flowers standing out in relief on the lid of the box and found they came off in her hand revealing them as combs for her hair. She stared at them for a moment the pale wood had a faint tinge of pink, just the right shade so as not to clash with her hair.

"Aw way to go Hatake, you've just raised the bar for the rest of us now!" a voice that sounded suspiciously like Genma's came from somewhere within the crowd.

The half annoyed, half teasing comment snapped her from her reverie. Tearing her eyes from the gorgeous gift she scanned the room for the silver haired jonin. True to character he was not too far away with his nose casually stuck into one of his ever present orange books.

She smiled at the group of shinobi, those few who were still upright and gathered around to watch her open her presents. "Please excuse me for a moment." Unsteadily she stood, remembering she had had quite a few cups of sake herself. Gaining her balance she made her way over to the seemingly disinterested Copy Ninja.

When he didn't respond to her presence she placed one of her hands in front of the little orange book he was trying to read, holding one of the combs. Faintly surprised at her invasion of his space he looked up at her. She grinned, and ran the comb through and then back to secure it in her hair. "Thank you." She hesitated for a moment before throwing her arms around him to give him a quick hug. "It's absolutely lovely."

To an accompaniment of half-hearted catcalls and wolf whistles she made her way back to her seat to finish opening her presents.

* * *

Once she finished opening her presents and thanking everyone she was unable to stop herself from yawning. Time had definitely gotten away from her and it was well after closing time, though the owner of the pub had wisely allowed them to stay and had continued to serve them since their patronage added generously to his pockets. Gratefully she noticed that she was not the only one who was exhausted. She decided it would be a good time to take her leave and glancing at her pile of presents she was inordinately pleased to see that either Ino or Hinata had been kind enough to consolidate everything into a couple of the larger gift bags. She would probably still need a little help getting everything all the way to her apartment. Even with the gifts consolidated the sheer bulk of the bags would make an awkward load for someone with her short arms and stature. Because it was her birthday she didn't think she would have to ask for help.

Besides one of the last lingering shreds of chivalry beat into male shinobi from a young age was to treat kunoichis as ladies outside of missions. Even though they were just as deadly and occasionally crude as their male counterparts they still deserved to be respected just as much as any other civilian woman when not on a mission. It was a very small concession to their gender, but it made a huge difference in helping kunoichis maintain their sense of femininity in a job that was often required them to check their gender at the door. It wasn't a rule so to speak, and it definitely didn't seem to apply to everyone – Anko being a notable exception – but Sakura usually found someone either asking or volunteering to take her home after an evening at the pub. She knew that for the most part it was either a gesture of respect or on occasion a way to spend some alone time with her. Regardless of their motives, she knew that someone was bound to volunteer. She just hoped it wouldn't be a certain senbon wielding or younger green spandex wearing shinobi.

Slowly rising to her feet she smiled at the remaining partygoers. Apparently they had been watching her for some sort of signal to end the evening so when she stood most of the chatter died down. "Thank you everyone for coming! This has been a great evening. Alas, I'm exhausted and perhaps a bit tipsy. I think it is time for me to go home." She raised a hand to wave at the group before her, "G'night everyone and thank you again!"

She reached for as many of her bags as she could carry to find they had already been taken by someone. Looking up she realized they had been taken by _two_ someones. Inwardly she cursed; Rock Lee had half of the bags and Genma the other. For a moment she stood looking at the two shinobi who seemed to be settled in for a long staring contest, unsure what to do. She _really_ didn't want to be escorted home by either of the two men, but she did know she needed _someone_ to help carry her bags at least to her apartment building. Weight-wise the bags were not a problem with her chakra enhanced strength, but bulk-wise they were.

She needn't have worried as a moment later the bags were nimbly taken from both staring shinobi, transferred them to one hand or rather arm, and the other offered to her. Gladly she took his offered arm, happy not to have to deal with the two annoyed shinobi who had just attempted to take her home.

* * *

"Thanks guys, but I'll just escort the birthday kunoichi home. It seems the two of you may have something to discuss. We'll just leave you to it then. Good night."

Deftly he steered her out of the room before either of the two foiled men or any of the other remaining shinobi in the room could react. Inwardly he laughed at the huge sigh of relief she heaved once they exited the pub and faintly wondered at the fact that she hadn't relinquished his arm or made as if to take some of the awkwardly bulky bags from him. Instead she actually seemed be to clutching it tighter. Clearly the prospect of either Genma or Lee walking her home had not particularly pleased her.

He honestly couldn't say just what had motivated him to 'rescue' her. He knew he would be in for an earful the next day from both the lecherous senbon wielding man as well as his 'eternal rival' on behalf of the ever romantically foiled younger bushy browed man.

He mused to himself. Perhaps it may have been a delayed reaction to Genma's inappropriate gift and the implications behind it. He had waged a difficult battle with himself upon seeing what the lecherous shinobi had chosen to give his former student and the man's comments about it afterward had nearly pushed him over the edge. Fortunately his rational side had remained in control; after all he had no _real_ reason to be angry at his friend for his perfectly normal actions. Genma was only doing what he usually did around the ladies, flirt. And there was nothing wrong with the brown haired jonin flirting with the pink haired medic.

As for his 'eternal rival's' protégé, well he had to admit that the way the bowl cut shinobi had kept stealing lingering glances at her all evening had disturbed him just a bit. And if it had gotten to _him_ he couldn't imagine _her _not feeling the same. In short, 'rescuing' her from the two had really only seemed to be the kind thing to do at the time.

* * *

They walked on in a companionable silence, drawing to a halt just outside her apartment building. Somewhat reluctantly she withdrew her arm from his and stepped away from him awkwardly taking the bags he had been carrying for her. Suddenly feeling shy, the alcohol slowly making its way from her system, she paused not sure what she wanted to say.

"G'night Kakashi … and thanks for walking me home and that _gorgeous_ box and hair combs." She paused before continuing wonderingly. "_Where_ on earth did you find such a beautiful thing? I just can't seem to wrap my mind around the thought of you shopping, never mind _gift_ shopping!"

Feeling profoundly embarrassed he raised one of his hands to the back of his head. "Eh, no problem Sakura… Just stepping in for Naruto and Sasuke for the evening I guess. I didn't want to see my favorite student taken advantage of on her birthday." His eye betrayed the smile that was hidden beneath his mask. "Um and the box… well, do you remember that I mentioned taking a couple hits for a fellow inmate on my last mission?" He chuckled, "you actually seemed quite upset about it."

"Of course I was! You could have had some _serious_ internal injuries!" She exclaimed before the implication hit her. Wide eyed she nodded.

"In talking to him while I was waiting to get close to my target, his skills as a former Master Carver came out along with his fears of the other inmates damaging his hands and his chances of making a life for himself if he were to live long enough to be released. Since I knew I was going to be there a while I offered my help in keeping him safe from the other inmates… er, he insisted in 'repaying' me by giving me something he had made for his estranged daughter," he hoped she would buy the half truth he had just told her. In fact the old man had insisted on making something for him to send to his 'special' girl back home. Despite his protests, the old man had remained steadfast in holding up his end of the deal and claiming Sakura meant more to the silver haired man than he was willing to admit to anyone, even himself. And that she deserved such a lovely and thoughtful gift for her next birthday.

"Oh _Kakashi_! How very thoughtful of you!" She carefully shifted her bags down to place them on the ground and edged up to the silver haired man. Before he could react she embraced him for the second time that evening. Pulling herself slightly away from him one of her hands stealthily made its way to the left side of his face and rested lightly at the edge of his mask, just under his forehead protector.

"Sakura," his voice held a fine edge of warning. Drunk birthday girl or not he was not about to let her see his face.

Her finger twitched but stayed put for the moment as she tilted her head to take in his annoyed expression. "I'd like to kiss the man, Kakashi, not the mask." Quickly, before he could react she pulled a tiny corner of his mask down, just enough to expose a pale patch of his cheek, and kissed him. Pulling away from him entirely she smiled at his dumbfounded expression. "Thank you again and g'night!" tipsily she grabbed her bags and awkwardly made her way into the building.


	5. Chapter Five: Chocolates & Bubble Bath

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! I really do appreciate the encouragement both the page hits and reviews provide. :) I think I'm still on schedule for next week so chapter six will probably be posted sometime next weekend. As always huge thanks to my wonderful beta FlameTwirler! This fic is for you. :D

One other thing I wanted to reiterate from my A/N in chapter four. I'm using the American spellings for _all_ names and words. This is an intentional decision on my part – I wanted to pick one fandom (Official American Manga/Anime released materials) and stick with it to be consistent. I did not want pick and choose bits when and where I felt it appropriate, that's cheating. ;p

* * *

Chapter Five: Chocolates & Bubble Bath

Unhurriedly Kakashi made his way to the gate; his team for this mission would be waiting for him there. Granted they had probably been waiting over two hours for him, but he wasn't particularly concerned. No one that knew him ever expected him to be on time anyway, and since Naruto and Sasuke had both been assigned to this mission he figured they at least knew what to expect. Since Sakura had turned her focus to her work in the hospital he, Naruto and Sasuke were assigned to missions and teams as needed. Only occasionally did the three of them work together and even less often did Sakura join them as the fourth on their team.

Inwardly he had to grin at what he had been doing to cause him to be late. He hadn't anticipated it taking as long as it had, but he knew it had been more than worth his while. Unfortunately he wouldn't be around to witness the results, but he knew he would hear all about it from various sources upon his return.

The last mission he had completed about a week previous had taken him to the Land of the Waterfall where one of the local lords was having issues with his business rivals. The man's family had built a vast empire out of the family recipes for sweets, most notably their chocolates. Unfortunately one of his candy competitors had made threats against him and his family and he had immediately sought help. The mission had been a simple consultation, a sort of defense trial. They were to look into the lord's security and advise him of the flaws from the strictly professional perspective of a shinobi from a different hidden village, rather than the biased opinions of those who had helped him set up his defenses.

It wasn't a particularly difficult mission, one he had returned from unscathed and bearing a rather heavy box of gourmet chocolates. The lord had been over awed by his presence and had pressed upon him as much chocolate as he could in thanks for his help in securing the protection of his family. He had tried to politely refuse and had managed successfully … or so he had thought until he unpacked after proving to his self-appointed medic he was not in need of her services and sending her on her way and discovered the unwanted box of chocolates hidden with his belongings. He had cursed himself for not unpacking _before_ she had arrived as then he could have pawned them off on her as a thank you for coming even though he didn't need her and been done with it.

Instead it had sat on his book shelf for a week while he tried to figure out what to do with it. Eating it himself was not an appealing idea seeing as he didn't particularly care for sweets. Since he couldn't quite bring himself to throw it away he was left with only one option – to give it away. Unfortunately since he hadn't seen anyone since he discovered the unwanted chocolates on whom he could easily dump the gourmet gift, to whom had been a problem until that morning.

He had been on his way to jonin headquarters and just happened to pass by a small café often frequented by shinobi. As he passed the large open air terrace he had heard two of his former students planning something. It distinctly sounded as though they were planning another one of their ambushes – though as far as he knew his third former student wasn't dating anyone at the moment. Last he had heard of her love life she was still determined to believe that dating wasn't worth the trouble. Inwardly he groaned as it hit him that they were now working their little routine on guys _before_ they asked Sakura out, a sort of preventative measure he figured.

He let it slip from his mind as he entered the building – intent on getting a new mission to assuage his boredom. Now he smiled to himself as he approached his waiting team; he was fairly certain that at the very least it would brighten her day and probably make her wonder what the hell was going to go wrong. For a moment he almost wished he wasn't leaving the village so he would get to see the repercussions first hand, _almost_.

Once the gate came into his sight he was accosted by an angry voice.

"Kakashi! You're _late_! Where the _hell_ have you been?! We've been waiting for over _two_ _hours_ now!"

As only he could the elite jonin raised his hand to the back of his head. "Oh, am I now?" He smiled at the angry blonde currently pointing at him and just barely able to keep himself from hopping up and down in his irritation.

The blonde continued to glare at him, the two remaining members of his team also shooting him less obvious but still quite annoyed stares. He sighed and translated what he was actually doing into one of his usual excuses.

"You see I was on my way here when I ran into this poor little girl. She was very unhappy; I guess she had just missed out on something that could have been really good. She was so upset that I thought the only courteous thing to do would be to get her some sweets to make her feel a little better…"

The angry blonde rolled his eyes and sighed, "_liar_." Having long ago learned not to expect a straight answer from the Copy Ninja he accepted the clearly fabricated excuse.

* * *

Quickly Sakura made her way to the hospital. She had over slept and was now very nearly late for her shift. Hopping down from the last rooftop she hurried inside just as her shift was due to begin.

Absently she nodded to the two nurses manning the reception desk before continuing on to her office, completely missing the identical cat like grins they were sporting and the fact that they had abruptly stopped talking as soon as she was within hearing distance.

The first thing she noticed upon opening her office door was a rather large gold colored box sitting in the middle of her desk. Cautiously she drew closer to the unfamiliar item, wary of any number of possibilities. As she approached though she recognized the box for what it was: a box of premium chocolate truffles. Lifting it from the table, she examined it before opening it and found a little scrap of paper:

'To make a bad day better.'

Mentally she shook her head. This certainly did _not_ bode well. She couldn't for the life of her figure out to what her former teacher may be referencing, but figured that sooner rather than later should would.

Several hours later she found out what the chocolates were supposed to make better. While completing her rounds she came across one of the new medics laid up in traction. Upon entering his room she found that she didn't have to ask what had happened as he almost visibly recoiled from her with fear clearly present in his eyes. Mentally she sighed as she realized that it was the one who had started very cautiously flirting with her only a couple weeks prior. Her boys, minus one, had struck again.

Absently she wondered what sort of new game her third boy might be playing. His latest gift was sure to cause her no end of trouble. Mentally she sighed as she realized that she was going to have to deal with the Konoha gossip mill once again, and just as the talk of her and her 'secret admirer' was starting to die down too.

* * *

Inwardly she groaned as she flopped down on the grass under a tree. She was definitely allowing some of her skills to become rusty and this sparring session was unquestionably taking a harsher toll on her than she would have thought or would have liked to admit.

"Tired already?" her sparring partner asked with amusement clearly in his voice as he stood over her, temporarily blocking the sun from her eyes.

"Ugh," she wiped her forehead as he took a seat next to her, pulling his ever present orange book from seemingly nowhere. Annoyingly enough she noticed that even through he was wearing far more clothing than she was, he had barely broken into a sweat while she was drenched more thoroughly than she had been in recent memory.

"You know something, Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" he didn't bother to look up from his book.

She raised herself up on her elbows so she could turn to look at the man next to her. "I've just learned something today."

"Oh, and what's that?" he looked up from his book questioningly.

She nudged him lightly, "That no chakra equals no fair when sparring with _you_."

He chuckled, "I taught you better than that Sakura. You should be able to hold your own against me, at least for a _little_ while." He eyed her for a moment, "That is, of course if you were _thinking_."

"Kakashi!" she growled pulling herself completely up to a sitting position to smack the generally stoic shinobi lightly upside his head. "That's not _fair_! I thought I was coming down here," she narrowed her eyes, "_on_ _my_ _day_ _off_ to help you with _your_ training not _mine_." She sighed dramatically, "I could have spent the entire day at the _spa_ as Tsunade suggested, getting _pampered_ instead of _pounded_." She glared at him, only halfway seriously.

He laughed and put his book away. "Okay, okay. Fine, the usual it is."

She nodded and rose to her feet. "Good. Vest off please."

He got to his feet and raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.

"It's uncomfortable." He looked at her and she grinned. "I've been meaning to tell you that for _years_." She paused and looked at him thoughtfully, "Oh and probably your jonin over shirt too, too baggy - I'll slip right off." She giggled a little at the thought.

He laughed and obliged before positioning himself on the ground and waiting expectantly. Once he was still she took her usual place on his back while he did his usual regime of one fingered pushups. Inwardly he groaned. He had been dreading the day she demanded he remove his vest. There had been a reason he had never done so in the past despite the mutual discomfort it provided. It had served as a barrier between his body and that of his former student. While wearing it he couldn't feel and therefore when she squirmed on his back once boredom set in he could ignore the curves he knew she had acquired as she grew older. He _really_ hoped she wouldn't squirm too much and that he would be able to get the bulk of his pushups done before she started to lose interest and consequently begin to unintentionally distract him.

After he had done the first hundred or two her mind began to wander as boredom found her. She shifted a little on his back, watching as the world went up and down as he continued with his push-ups. She knew it occasionally annoyed him when she squirmed too much but when she was bored she didn't really care. Finding herself to be not quite comfortable she shifted a little again so that she was on her stomach instead of on her back, finding the position to be much more comfortable.

"Kakashi?" she asked, not really wanting to ask him anything in particular, really just wanting to hear his voice and hope that he could perhaps alleviate her boredom.

"Hmm?" he asked noncommittally.

He had known she would begin to lose interest if he didn't talk to her. Unfortunately his concentration had begun to slip the moment she had shifted herself from lying on her back to lying on her stomach. The silver haired man knew she had, in the process of becoming a woman so to speak, acquired breasts. Nevertheless, he _really_ didn't need to have them pressed, however briefly, into his back to remind him that she was a grown kunoichi.

He didn't even want to _begin_ to think about the fact that her hips were currently pressed into his lower back as she lay propped up by her elbows.

Still lacking anything particularly meaningful to say she squirmed a little, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make herself more comfortable than she already was and that she was probably annoying the older man. Her eyes settled on the shock of silver hair in front of her.

"When was the last time you had a haircut?" she asked him finally, her fingers already reaching for the almost irresistible mass of silver hair in front of her. Almost absently she removed and discarded his forehead protector, having decided that it was in her way.

He sighed inwardly, knowing that she had just found a way to occupy herself almost indefinitely. The elite jonin knew there would be a price to pay for having her help him with his training. There _always_ was. When she was younger more often than not it would be listening to her prattle on and on about Sasuke. However he couldn't actually remember the last time he had heard one of her monologues on the distant Uchiha. Thinking about it he couldn't really remember when she had apparently gotten over her school girl crush on him. Then again it had been a while since she had helped him with his pushups and at least the last dozen or so times in recent memory she had brought medical scrolls to study. Briefly he wondered why she hadn't brought some with her this time.

When she was younger, if she wasn't chattering about Sasuke then her second favorite thing to do had been play with his hair. He hadn't been particularly thrilled when she had first picked up the habit, but at the time it had been more than preferable to hearing her chatter endlessly about her dark haired teammate Though, now that she was older, it was something that could potentially be just as distracting as her squirming. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what she found so amusing about his hair. The dark eyed man couldn't complain though as it was something that had kept her entertained for hours when she was younger, doubtlessly keeping her out of trouble. Regardless, he was thankful that it ceased her squirming and practically guaranteed she would stay occupied until he finished his pushups.

Inwardly he was faintly surprised at just how distracting it was to him. He had held onto the shred of hope that the facts that she was his former student and fourteen years younger may help bolster the thin layer of fabric that was his sleeveless under shirt currently separating them. Unfortunately she had just blithely proved that his hope had been in vain.

"Uh, I dunno. I seem to remember taking a kunai to it after a mission a while back…"

Her hands paused in whatever it was that they were doing, braiding he guessed as the most likely by the light intermittent tugs on three different sections of his hair.

"You cut your hair with a kunai?" She asked in disbelief.

He could feel her hands moving again, tugging strands up for closer inspection and he laughed at the incredulity in her voice.

"It was the only blade handy at the time." If he could have, he would have shrugged at the offhand comment. "Besides I seem to remember a certain _someone_ doing the same…"

She thumped his head. "Hey, that was _different_! _You_ didn't have an enemy kunoichi holding you down… by… it…" she trailed off not wanting to open that particular door. She sniffed, "If I had been granted a choice I would have had it done properly in a salon." She huffed noisily as she regarded the gravity defying bush of hair in front of her.

He grunted noncommittally in hopes that she would let his comment go and either continue to play with his hair or find something less distracting to occupy her time. The less morally sound part of him wanted for her to return to what she had been doing. However the more honorable part of him, thankfully still in control, was disgusted with himself and hoped rather fervently that she would flip over onto her back and find something else to occupy both her hands and her mind.

After a moment, she seemed to accept his grunt as the only apology she was likely to receive and her hands returned to his hair – much to his delight and then self disgust. "It's no wonder you always look like you've got a distressed paintbrush stuck to your head." Her hands started moving again, this time tugging at different bits comparing their length. "It's all uneven too!" she exclaimed, though why she should be so surprised he couldn't quite figure. "I always thought it stuck off to your left because of the way you use your headband to cover your Sharingan… But it really _is_ shorter on the right than left… What happened, get tired of cutting so you just stopped part of the way through?"

"I suppose you think you would like to fix it then?" he asked warily, trying to dodge her question and wondering how he could convince her otherwise. He wasn't one to really care _too_ much about his appearance, but he rather liked his fairly distinctive hair. And the thought of _her_ doing such a thing bothered him more than it should.

"Are you _kidding_?" she asked almost scandalized. "If someone were to tame your hair I think the world might come to an end." She paused for a moment in thought before continuing. "Besides I don't think you'd be _you_ without this untamed mop you call hair." She ran her fingers through his hair pulling it straight away from his head in all directions before flattening it out and doing it again.

"You don't say?" he asked somewhat distracted by the sensation of her fingers running though the strands of his hair. He wished fervently that she would stop allowing her fingers to brush against his head before gently running the length his hair – if she avoided brushing her fingers across his scalp so often it was much easier for him to ignore what she was doing. Again the smaller less rational part of him thoroughly enjoyed the all too distracting sensation.

"Hmm, I do say…kind of like Guy." She giggled. "I don't think _he'd_ be Guy without that hideous bowl cut of his."

"You know Guy didn't always favor that hairstyle."

"What?" she asked incredulously, her hands stopping in the middle of trying to pat his hair into the semblance of a mohawk without actually shaving the sides of his head.

He paused in his pushups, "Hang on changing fingers."

She lifted herself away from his neck so he could switch hands, lowering herself as soon as he settled himself, though not replacing her hands in his hair. Instead she placed her arms under herself as she leaned on her forearms, her hands resting on the wrist he had just placed on the back of his neck. Once he started again she waited for him to continue, but when he didn't she prodded him. "Well?"

Inwardly he chuckled at her curiosity. "Well what?"

"Aw, c'mon Kakashi! About Guy's hair! What the _hell_ happened? There has just _got_ to be a good story there!"

"Ah, _that_…"

"Yes _that_! Now get on with the story!" She shifted his wrist slightly and poked his neck.

He laughed, "There isn't much to say about it really, it was a long time ago now."

"_Kakashi_!" She squirmed a little knowing it would get his attention, though misconstruing the reason it usually annoyed him.

Inwardly he groaned as she shifted against him, desperately trying to redirect his thoughts. Between her squirming and running her fingers through his hair she was doing one hell of a job of dredging what he found to be extremely inappropriate thoughts to the surface of his Icha Icha corrupted mind. Sluggishly it occurred to him that if he told her the story she might stay still long enough for him to finish his pushups.

"Alright, alright. It was way back when I was a chunin. Guy had already decided he needed a rival and unfortunately I happened to be on hand at the time. Anyway one of the first things he challenged me to was a staring contest. Loser had to cut their hair to the specifications of the winner…"

"Oh no… you _didn't_!" She cried unable to stop herself from laughing.

"Yes I did. I was annoyed that he had disturbed me in the middle of my lunch. So I grabbed the nearest bowl, dumped the contents and handed it to him. I told him to put it on his head and cut anything that wasn't covered by the bowl…"

"Oh now Kakashi, that's just _too_ funny." She continued to laugh, having to grab hold of his shoulders or risk falling off his back. Once she had managed to calm herself down enough so that she could speak again she asked, "So how long did he stipulate in the stakes? For life?"

"Funny that you mention it… I was under the impression that it was a one time deal… But from what I heard he still has that ramen bowl from Ichiraku and still uses it to measure and cut his hair…"

* * *

The next morning she awoke feeling as though she had gone a few too many rounds with a heard of elephants. Grumbling she made her way to the hospital, realizing that she could definitely stand to extend her regular workouts and training sessions as she was clearly starting to get a little out of shape. Granted her former sensei beating the tar out of her was nothing new, but usually she didn't feel _quite_ so trampled the day after.

After he had finished his pushups he had somehow managed to convince her, she was still unsure how he had done it, to go another couple rounds with him. Inwardly she had halfway hoped that he would be at least a _little_ tired from the couple hundred one fingered pushups he had just completed with her on his back. Unfortunately she had been wrong, _very_ wrong and he had knocked her around like a rag doll. Belatedly she realized he probably had thought he was doing it for her own good and wished he had been able to find a less painful way for him to get his point across.

Upon entering her office she found a large bottle of purple liquid and a bright yellow rubber ducky sitting on her desk.

"Ugh, the _nerve_ of that old man!" she growled to herself as she inspected at the purple liquid which upon further examination turned out to be lavender scented bubble bath. When she picked up the ducky she found a small scrap of paper under it. Against her better judgment she lifted the scrap of paper to find, what was becoming an infuriatingly familiar scrawl:

'To sooth your aches and pains on the day after.'

* * *

Across town a certain silver haired jonin laughed to himself at what he could only imagine her reaction would be to his latest gift. Inwardly he had to admit that he may have found a new and thoroughly enjoyable way to amuse himself at his former student's expense.

He'd been cleaning out some of the clutter from his apartment and found the bright yellow rubber ducky – his prize for winning some silly challenge or other with Guy. While contemplating it he happened to wonder just how sore his former student would be that day since he really had been quite merciless in their spar the day before. It hadn't taken much for him to decide to drop by the medic's office with another gift. The lavender scented bubble bath had been a last minute impulse buy to go along with the rubber ducky. The look the clerk at the pharmacy had given him when he had placed his purchases, bubble bath and the newest volume of Icha Icha, on the counter had been absolutely priceless. He was _really_ starting to enjoy himself at her expense.

Absently he wondered what the Konoha gossip mill would make of his most recent gift. The chocolate, he had found out upon returning to Konoha, served to infuriate her to no end since the little old ladies were practically falling over each other to follow her wherever she went in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her 'secret admirer.'

Apparently it had made quite the massive mess when she was assigned to show a visiting male dignitary around the village for a couple of days. They would probably be a little more cautious in their assumptions and attempts at espionage after being chastised by Tsunade. It seemed Sakura had lucked out in that the dignitary had a sense of humor and had found the whole incident to be humorous instead of taking it as some sort of insult. Inwardly he suspected that if Sakura were to ever visit the man's country she would be an instant celebrity judging from what he had heard of the extent of the dignitary's enjoyment of the whole incident.

Though she had been absolutely pissed with him she had, after screaming and hitting him several times, begrudgingly admitted to him after the fact that the chocolates had been some of the best she had ever eaten. Mentally he made a note to pick up some more the next time he was in the Land of the Waterfall. Absently he wondered if he could arrange to deliver them again just before another foreign diplomat was due to visit the village. He smirked in anticipation. Next time he would make _sure_ he would be in the village to enjoy the show.


	6. Chapter Six: Mission Accomplished

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter five! Sorries it took me so long to respond! Life has been hectic lately, but hopefully will start to go back to normal soon. And of course huge thanks goes to my beta FlameTwirler for putting up with my bout of paranoia about this chapter. You know I wouldn't be posting without your encouragement. :D

* * *

Chapter Six: Mission Accomplished

Kakashi caught the scroll that was negligently tossed to him, breaking the seal to scan the contents. Partway through he found a phrase that interested, or rather _annoyed_, him.

"I thought this was going to be a quick and dirty _solo_ mission." He looked back up to the woman sitting behind the overloaded desk in front of him and raised an eyebrow. "I'll need a _medic_?"

"The objective has changed. There are now _twelve_ targets to be eliminated within no longer than a three hour time period. You're the only trained assassin available for the mission so you will have to take out all twelve targets. Whether or not you choose to use your signature method, chidori, for four of them you'll still be in no condition to return after such exertions, which is unacceptable. You are too valuable an asset for this village to be thrown away on this type of mission. I have decided to send a medic with you to ensure that you _do_ return."

Inwardly, she thought of a certain pink haired woman who would _never_ forgive her if she sent him off on this type of a mission without a medic, before continuing.

"You'll be staying at a resort several miles away from the enemy shinobi's complex. The medic will be stationed _outside_ the main danger area of the complex itself since you _do_ work better at these sorts of missions alone. He will maintain whatever illusion you should choose to utilize to alibi yourselves at the resort during the assassinations, then tend to you once you are through and back at the resort. Going by your past record on these sorts of missions, you'll probably push yourself too much and will need to recover for a couple days at the resort before returning. If necessary your medic will also help you return to Konoha should you be too injured for his field skills or in need of more aid than he can provide."

"No medic." His tone was flat conveying his complete distaste for the idea. This mission had solo written all over it, another person would only unnecessarily complicate things, even with the new objective, time period and mandate keeping the medic out of his way while he worked.

The older woman sighed. Somehow she had known he wouldn't willingly cooperate with her on this, even though an intelligent shinobi such as himself should clearly see the need for a medic. "My decision is final. _However_ I will let you choose your medic. If he is available then you shall have him."

He stared at her as though staring would somehow make her change her mind. After several moments of nothing he finally shook his head in annoyance. "Fine, fine..." He sighed almost in defeat. "I want Sakura."

She had made the mistake of taking a sip of something that suspiciously smelled of sake just as he spoke. After a moment of choking, coughing and sputtering she was finally able to respond.

"I'm sorry?" she asked completely unable to hide her surprise.

Momentarily forgetting the new directive she had added to keep the medic safe, the blonde woman figured he would choose anyone _other than_ his former student. The Copy Ninja had been quite determined to keep her as far away from any sort of dangerous missions as possible since the dissolution of his last team. Or rather, he had tried to keep her away from what he considered to be dangerous missions if _he_ was not the one leading the team. Inwardly she figured that he probably didn't see this particular mission dangerous since _he_ would be with her, and she belatedly realized with the new instructions the medic would also not be anywhere near the actual combat zone.

After the jailbait incident he had never really learned to trust any of the other team leaders with his only female student. This had caused no end of trouble for the clerks who usually assigned the more mundane missions, unbeknownst to the woman in question of course. She would probably have had quite an enlightening and most likely physical discussion with him over it if she had known of his behind the scenes meddling.

Though the blonde hokage had to admit he _did_ have a legitimate reason to be upset over the whole jailbait incident. After all, Raido had asked to borrow the kunoichi from Kakashi's team because he needed a medic, neglecting to add that she would be used as bait to catch a particularly nasty sexual predator attracted to girls not of legal age. Of course Raido knew better than to tell the silver haired jonin the _real_ reason he had wanted to borrow Sakura as the Copy Ninja had steadfastly refused _anyone_ wishing to borrow her for anything other than her medical skills. He had denied all who had asked simply to borrow his kunoichi assuming they needed her for her _kunoichi_ skills rather than her _medical_ skills. He had also refused _all_ missions requiring her to use any of her special kunoichi skills once she was considered to be of age to be asked to do so. Consequently he had been absolutely _livid_ when an extremely apologetic Raido had brought her back with telling injuries of just what sort of mission she had been on.

Regardless of the elite jonin's motives she was beginning to become a little concerned about the somewhat atypical relationship between the former teacher and student. Whether or not he realized it, the silver haired man was getting much too comfortable with having her available to tend to his injuries; and the pink haired woman wasn't helping matters as she seemed all too accommodating in making herself available to him whenever he needed her. Inwardly she shook her head as she realized he was speaking again and she should be listening to him.

"…Sakura, I'll take her as my medic. I know she's in the village; as I took her out for dango a couple days ago after I returned..."

Having convinced herself that it was for Kakashi and Sakura's own good, the older woman shook her head stubbornly, feeling almost childish and obstinate. "No."

"What? Why not? She _is_ in the village. So she should be available…" he narrowed his eye in suspicion. "You did say _anyone_…"

"Yes I did; anyone who is _available_. She may be in the village, but that doesn't mean that she _is_ available. And she's not. So choose someone else." Peevishly she found that the more he insisted the more she didn't want to give in to him.

"No. I _want_ Sakura." He crossed his arms across his chest belligerently, feeling immaturely angry at not getting his way. "It's either Sakura or no one."

Her annoyance was finally starting to break through her generally thin calm exterior. "Kakashi, I may let her spoil you rotten here in the village with the house calls and all, but I can't afford to let you get her into the habit of doing it in the field as well."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I said, Kakashi. You've gone a bit soft over your pink haired medic and that just isn't going to cut it. She isn't _always_ going to be there to patch you up. It's bad enough that I already let her slink off to check up on and heal you whenever you return from a mission. I'm not going to let you get into the habit of keeping her as your own personal medic for your exclusive use in the village _and_ in the field." She sighed audibly. "You know _she_ took herself off active duty after the last incident when you nearly took out that ANBU rookie who had been sent to take you to the hospital because Sakura was unavailable? Really Kakashi, how could _you_ do that? You're one of the most self controlled shinobi in the village."

He opened his mouth to object, the stupid rookie had after all made a try for his mask, but she interrupted him before he could put voice to his protest.

"And don't you try and feed me some cock and bull story of how he went for your mask. Your mask my ass. More likely the frightened young fool was just trying to get a hold of you however he could." She shook her head realizing she had somehow gotten away from the _real_ topic of their conversation.

"Anyway, that's beside the point. _Sakura_ made the decision to restrict her mission activities on her own. I had _nothing_ to do with that. I actually tried to get her to change her mind. She should have an active field career before settling down in the hospital with the old fogies. Though, with the good work she has been doing at the hospital and prospects of picking up a couple research assignments, I honestly don't think she minded… But I'll be damned if I'll let you prevent her from having a regular field career if she should change her mind. For some inexplicable reason she seems to be inordinately attached to her first team. If she thinks there is a chance something may happen to one of the three of you idiots while she is away and you won't seek help on your own, she won't leave."

He smiled, an expression he wasn't particularly feeling. "Well then it should be _good_ for me to take her out with me since she _hasn't_ been out as much lately. You've just said so yourself that you wanted her to get out on more missions." He did his best to ignore what she had just said, inwardly knowing it was true and something he had consciously been ignoring since the dissolution of their team.

She sighed, speaking more to herself than to him. "I just _knew_ I shouldn't have let this go on as long as it has … but I just couldn't seem to say no to her." She shook her head in annoyance, and looked back up at the usually stoic shinobi before her. "I know you've gotten comfortable with having her tend to you, which is only natural since she _was_ one of your students, but it _can't_ go on forever you know. She _will_ eventually find a life for herself outside of her old genin team, and she _won't_ always be able to drop everything for you, Naruto and Sasuke. Best to get used to it now rather than later when it actually happens and there are real consequences…"

* * *

"Tsunade? Last time I saw her she was in her office. I believe her last meeting was at eight this morning so she should be free until two or so when she is scheduled for a meeting with the village elders."

"Right, thanks!"

The young medic made her way to her mentor's office with an armful of scrolls waiting for the hokage's approval. It had been a long morning, just made longer by the rather invasive grope ending with a painful pinch she received while making her way through a patient's room.

She briefly knocked before entering; she always had access to Tsunade whenever she needed to see her medic mentor and the hokage was in one of her offices. The perk could be a double edged sword though since people were always hitting her up for favors, either to deliver bad news to the temperamental woman or just plain getting something rushed through to her when she was unavailable to everyone else.

"We _really_ need to come up with a better warning system for the patients with wandering hands," she grumbled as she rubbed her rear. "You wouldn't _believe_ what the patient in 5F did…" she trailed off with her hand absently resting in her derriere, realizing she was not alone with the village's top medic. She flushed upon noticing her silver haired former sensei in the room and hastily removed her hand from her bottom.

"Oh! Hello Kakashi." She smiled a bit self consciously at him. "I'm sorry. I hope I'm not interrupting anything too important…"

To her relief, her silver haired former sensei smiled and the blonde woman laughed.

"You've been by to see Mr. Shiranui then?"

The generally impassive jonin chuckled, having known the Shiranui family for quite some time. Given a young woman like Sakura, it would be more of a surprise if he _didn't_ make a grab for her than the apparent fact that he had.

Her eyes widened, "I was looking for a file one of the nurses misplaced…is _that_ who he was?" She shook her head, "it's no _wonder_ where Genma gets it from. I should have guessed. He managed to make me feel sort of dirty before he even touched me!" She rubbed her rear again. "_Ouch_ and he has _really_ strong fingers… He needs an _orange_ folder and a warning on the door."

"At least you weren't trying to examine his throat or mouth; those hands of his will go for _any_ female anatomy within reach." The brown eyed woman shook her head, feeling glad there weren't _too_ many lecherous citizens in Konoha. "What do you need Sakura?"

"Oh, um just your approval for these scrolls," she dumped the collection of scrolls she had been holding onto the blonde woman's desk. "Those need approval before tomorrow; they're the scheduled surgeries and assignments for next week."

The busty woman sighed audibly. "Alright I'll take a quick look at them right now, otherwise I might never get to them." She turned to the silver haired man who had a hint of something she couldn't quite read in his visible eye. "You wait here; this should only take a moment and we're _not_ done discussing your next mission."

The pink haired medic turned to her other former teacher and frowned. "Going out so soon Kakashi?"

"Apparently."

"But, didn't you only just come back after being away for about a month?"

He shrugged. "You know how it is Sakura."

She sighed, "I suppose so." She paused for a moment, "You going on another long term solo then?"

He frowned. "Why would you guess that?"

"That's almost _all_ you've been doing lately," she laughed. "If you don't start spending either more time in the village or on team assignments you're going to lose the few social skills you have left." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

He opened his mouth to retaliate but was prevented by his superior.

"Sakura, why aren't you scheduled next week?" the blonde medic inquired of her former apprentice with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh, you asked Shizune to have me taken off the schedule for the next few weeks. Um, something about a new research assignment for me I think she mentioned? I've actually been meaning to ask you about it."

The more senior woman looked at the younger woman blankly for a moment before a smile spread slowly across her face. "Oh _that's_ right, must have slipped my mind. I _do_ have a new research project for you. But something else has come up and it will be a couple weeks before you'll actually be able to start with it."

"Okay, so should I ask Shizune to put be back into rotation until I can start the new project then?"

"No, no… I have some other tasks for you to complete in the mean time."

"Um, okay just let me know." The younger medic gathered the signed, annotated, and approved scrolls from her mentor and stepped toward to the door. She turned to the silver haired shinobi, "Be careful old man. I'd like you to come back in one piece."

* * *

Tsunade eyed the stoic man in front of her. Inwardly she kicked herself for what she was about to do, but was secretly pleased at finding a way around a potentially tricky complication of a future assignment. She also had to admit that part of her childish refusal had been rooted in the fact that she was irrationally a little bit jealous of how close the kunoichi was with her former sensei. "Are you still set on having your former student, impertinence and all?"

He frowned, wondering about her seemingly sudden mood shift. "I want Sakura, no one else."

"Good, then you can have her."

She smiled too sweetly for his liking. He opened his mouth to voice a sudden suspicion but was cut off before he could begin.

"Well, you can have her on _one_ condition." She amended, her sweet smile quickly turning smug.

He stared at her flatly, wary of what she could demand in return for letting him take Sakura with him and wondering if he would be able, and _willing,_ to pay her price.

"Sakura has been working on the very edges of an interesting area of research in lieu of some of her shifts at the hospital recently. She was going to burn out at the rate she was going if at least _some_ of her energies weren't redirected to a less strenuous medical field. After reviewing her preliminary results I will be officially assigning her to continue her research on a grander scale and in greater depth. She doesn't realize it now, but eventually she _will_ ask for your help with her research. Sakura won't want to, she'll exhaust every possible alternative trying to get around asking you for help, but inevitably she _will_ have to." She smiled almost predatorily at the Copy Ninja. "I'd like for you to agree."

"So where exactly are we going?" she asked as they trudged onward.

She was wearing plain, almost overly modest clothing, hair temporarily dyed dark brown, and forehead protector secreted in a hidden pocket in her bag as he had specified before they left the village. As they made their way toward their destination she found herself stealing more than one glance at her former teacher. She had rarely seen him in something that wasn't standard jonin or ANBU or even shinobi issue. He was wearing what was obviously a warrior's clothing, though nothing that could easily be associated with a ninja, an eye-patch instead of his forehead protector and a wealth of bandages covering his nose extending down past the lower half of his face and onto his neck instead of his usual mask. Inwardly she had cringed at the result, reminding her vaguely of Zabuza. And if the wardrobe change hadn't been unsettling enough he had also dyed his hair black, she assumed or rather hoped _temporarily_. Clearly wherever they were going they were not going as themselves or shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"I've already told you, to a resort at the border." He didn't look up from his ever present little orange book.

She sighed, "Not only haven't you told me _where_ we're going, but you haven't told me _what_ we're going to do once we get there and _why_ we're going in the first place."

"Is that right?"

"_Kakashi_! At some point in time something _will_ happen and unless you tell me _what_ we're here for I'm not going to have the least idea what I'll need to do."

He sighed and snapped the orange book shut. "All you need to do is come to the resort, enjoy yourself for a week or so, maintain clones there to alibi us while we're away and then deal with me after I complete our objective." He smiled at her, "Should be a pretty easy mission. You should be _thanking_ me for taking you to a resort, even if it is for a mission." He chuckled at her immediate reaction; she appeared as though she had swallowed a lemon whole.

She looked at him suspiciously trying hard not to wonder about his word choice at the phrase 'deal with me.' She really didn't want to have to deal with something unexpected, but he didn't particularly seem to want to tell her the objective of the mission. "What is it that you're not telling me?"

His smile took on an innocent cast she knew all too well. "Nothing, there's nothing I'm not telling you." He shook his head as if in disbelief that she was questioning his integrity, though he knew full well that she had every reason with his rather extensive track record with her. "What makes you think I'm not telling you something?"

"Kakashi, Tsunade does _not_ assign medics to go out into the field for pretty much the sole purpose of healing someone after they've completed their objective unless something _seriously_ wrong is expected to happen. What's this about alibis? Why should we need them? Just what _is_ your mission objective anyway? And _why_ are we staying at a _resort_ instead of camping somewhere?" If she hadn't been so suspicious she would have made a joke about him being too old to camp on the ground anymore, but there was just something not quite right about this supposedly 'easy' mission that made her reconsider.

Ignoring her questions he pointed in front of them, "Look we're almost there."

She could see the roof of what had to be the sea-side resort peeking above the trees maybe a mile ahead of them. "_Hey_! That's not fair! You still haven't told me..."

He cut her off. "Cover story is that you're the daughter of a wealthy tea merchant on her way to visit some family in the Land of Water. I'm your guardian; your father doesn't trust you to travel with a large group of people because he has trust issues – he fears kidnapers and irrationally figures larger groups of people tend to draw more attention than smaller ones."

"Uh, okay works for me. How are we going to explain stopping here for a week or however long we'll have to stay?"

"Right, we'll be staying here until your ankle feels better."

"What? Both my ankles are fi..." she broke off with a yelp of pain as he moved quickly, grabbing a stick from the side of the road and pushing it in between her feet as she walked, tripping her rather forcefully.

"Sorry about that Sakura."

"_Kakashi_!" she hissed through the sudden sharp pain in her ankle from her inelegant seat on the ground. "What the _hell_?"

He shrugged apologetically before bending over to remove her pack and scoop her up, minding her now injured ankle, and started walking again. "I'm sorry Sakura. We needed a legitimate excuse to stay. Now we have one. Besides you can just heal it once we're through here and until then it won't particularly interfere with our objective – actually it will work quite well in lending credibility to our alibi."

She slapped his shoulder, hard. "You _moron_! You should have just _told_ me that!" She glared at him furiously.

He looked at her inquisitively, knowing that at least on _some_ level he had deserved the slap.

She sighed, "There's more than one way to fake an injury and I know a much less painful one to sprain my ankle without actually _hurting_ myself." She shifted a little in his arms to examine her ankle, which was quickly swelling and starting to turn an ugly color.

"You can actually do that?" he asked curiously, pausing to look down at her clearly angry expression with interest.

She hit him again. "I'm a _medic_ for kami's sake! Of _course_ I can do that!"

He sighed and rolled his eye. He should have expected her to react as she had, though the fact that she had mastered the tricky jutsus associated with fooling the body into believing it was injured without anything actually causing any damage had surprised him. It was _not_ something usually taught to medics. Inwardly he grinned, realizing that he and Guy weren't the only ones to teach their students things they probably shouldn't.

He was brought back to himself as he heard her huff and shift angrily in his arms. "How many more times are you going to hit me before we can continue with this mission?" He sighed, wondering how long she would stay angry with him for underestimating her abilities.

She flushed faintly before giving him one more particularly hard smack upside his head, knocking his eye patch askew. "Okay we're even… But I'm _not_ dealing with crutches. As long as I'm injured, hardly worth healing it just to fake the same thing, you're going to have to carry me." She stuck her tongue out at him, completely not expecting him to acquiesce to her rather whimsical demand.

He shook his head, clearing the stars that had appeared when her hand had connected with his jaw. "Fine and good, your name is Riiko and mine is Soshi."

She was surprised at his acceptance of her frivolous request but not quite willing to question it. Instead she nodded, watching as a spectacular bruise blossomed across the visible part of his face from where her hand had made contact with his bandage covered cheek. Suddenly feeling guilty, especially if he was going to be stuck carrying her around while they were at the resort, she tugged half heartedly at his shirt. "Wait, stop."

He paused, looking down at her with some confusion.

She sighed and adjusted his eye patch before concentrating for a moment, carefully placing her hand on his bandage covered cheek. "Didn't mean to hit you _quite_ that hard." Gently she ran her hand over his cheek, healing the bruise and crack in his jaw that she had just made. "But dammit _ask_ next time!" She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest belligerently once she was finished healing him.

He laughed and started once again toward the resort, choosing not to comment on the fact that as he traveled she almost hesitantly slipped her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against shoulder in the process. Inwardly he figured it must be the pain she was in due to her recently sprained ankle and felt a sympathy pang of guilt for having caused it unnecessarily. He felt her sigh softly against him and decided to find something nice to anonymously do for her once they returned to Konoha seeing as how she _had_ just healed the cracked jaw and rather spectacular bruise that had been forming on his face. He also still felt a little guilty for what he had unintentionally done; it would seem that he had once again albeit accidentally underestimated her.

He knew she would never admit to him how much it bothered her that he could so blithely underestimate her abilities after all the times she had proved herself to him to be more than competent at her chosen profession and yet somehow he still managed to do it to her. Silently he resolved to definitely make more of an effort to see her for what she really was and not the child he had spent years protecting.

* * *

She sat in the branches toward the top of the tree with her eyes fixed on the last target who was sitting somewhat less than soberly in the courtyard inside the secure enemy complex. …Although it wasn't quite as secure as they thought since Kakashi had made his way inside just over two hours prior and started a string of well planned and timed strategic assassinations.

Absently she fidgeted a little and checked her watch again. He should have been there and taken out the last target twenty minutes ago. She couldn't imagine where he was and what he was doing, or rather she _could_ and it didn't settle well with her.

Inwardly she debated over going in and trying to find him despite his strict instructions to the contrary. She fidgeted again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other – having healed her ankle before leaving the resort that night – starting to really worry. She knew he was good at what he did. Heck he was an elite jonin and former member of ANBU _specializing_ in assassinations; of _course_ he knew what he was doing. But for whatever reason neither fact could assuage her growing sense of unease. She knew the mission required for him to stretch his abilities a little; she just couldn't quite stop hoping that it wasn't too much for him.

Just as she was about to second guess his implicit orders she observed a shadow quickly detach itself from the wall surrounding the complex and stealthily sneak up behind the last clearly inebriated target and cleanly slit his throat. With the last target taken care of the shadow visibly slumped and quickly, but with an increasing lack of coordination, made its way over the wall. She silently met him, ready to provide him with whatever quick patch ups he may need before transporting him back to the resort where she could treat him more fully.

Her worry faded quickly and was replaced with anger at his condition as she used her chakra enhanced strength to almost carry him back. Between the amount of chakra she would need to get him back and the amount she had already used to create and maintain clones of both herself and her former teacher she knew she wouldn't be able to heal much of his injuries when they returned. After a preliminary check she knew she would have her work cut out for her. They would definitely need at least three maybe four days before he would be strong and healed enough to travel.

* * *

He couldn't remember a single time when he had been happier to see a medic than the moment she had met him at the wall. Giving in to her insistent demands to accompany him at least as far as the enemy complex turned out to be better planning than he could have thought. He was absolutely exhausted, having been cornered into using his chidori three times and any number of other jutsus after underestimating a couple of his targets. Each movement reminded him of the injuries he had sustained: at least 3 broken ribs, something strained and or sprained in his right arm, a hit to the back of his head that had been hard enough to almost bring him down, surface abrasions with several deep and long cuts caused by shattering a pane of glass with his left hand, and a thin but deep slash across his back. In addition to his physical injuries his chakra was depleted to such a level that he was afraid to open his Sharingan for fear that it would suck up the last of it rendering him completely unconscious. If he hadn't had a medic with him he would have truly had a hard time making it back to Konoha, never mind avoiding the pursuit that would certainly be sent after him once his actions were discovered by the other occupants of the complex.

The pink haired medic scanned him quickly before 'tsk'ing angrily at him and taking one of his arms across her shoulders to help him back to the resort. It was a little awkward with the obvious height difference but he was in no condition to complain. They had maybe an hour before someone noticed what he had done and sent out search parties to apprehend the culprit. He had to admit that Tsunade's idea of having them stay at a resort, leaving clones in their place, was a good one as now they didn't have to hurry back to Konoha to avoid pursuit. Instead they would head to the close comfort of a soft bed and warm food not cooked at a hastily made camp and he could recover at his leisure. There was also the added bonus that if someone asked about them anyone at the resort would vouch for their whereabouts that evening.

He didn't like to admit it, but he was grateful for the blonde woman forcing him to take a medic. Inwardly he was surprised to realize how grateful he was that the medic with him was his former student, but what he found to be even more surprising was the _reason_: he _trusted_ her. He knew that on some level he trusted all shinobi he had been put on a team with, however somewhere along the way she seemed to have earned more of his trust than almost all of the shinobi he had ever worked with and he found it faintly worrying.

He pulled his mind away from the vaguely troubling revelation before he could ask himself the dangerous question of _why_? Instead he focused on what his hokage had said of the young medic currently helping him back to the safety of the resort. On some level he knew that he had been using her, just a tiny bit mind you, as his own personal medic to the point where he refused treatment by anyone other than her, but he hadn't really thought to care much about it since she never seemed to mind. Absently he wondered as they stumbled over some unseen obstacle in their path and he heard her curse softly if he _had_ been holding her back from pursuing the sort of career she wanted; and even harder – what to do if he found out that he was.


	7. Chapter Seven: Sick

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Oh, wow! I can't get over the almost overwhelming response to chapter six!! I'm so glad everyone liked it, I was afraid it wouldn't be a particularly popular chapter since it was a bit different from the first five. Unfortunately it made me think a bit more about the impulsive bits I've added to the first couple chapters and realize in doing so that what I have already written doesn't carry everything all of the way through. Nrrgh. So why, you may wonder, am I writing this? I'd like to give fair warning, that next week's chapter may be late as I haven't written it yet… Generally I try to send a chapter to my beta a week and a half before I expect to post. Because I decided on Wednesday of this week that I needed to add a chapter between seven and the chapter I had marked as eight, I'm a bit concerned about getting it done in time for my usual update… I'll do my best but cannot promise anything. :)

Another thing, part of this chapter goes very well with something I stumbled upon after writing it. It's a very nicely done fanart by GinYume on definitely worth checking out. :D Ah, and one other thing before I forget, I hope everyone is paying attention. ;)

Sorries this wasn't posted on Saturday, but ff.n was down for all things that required logging in. :( _Very_ annoying!

* * *

Chapter Seven: Sick

Kakashi found himself aimlessly wandering. He had been given a few days off to balance out the four back to back missions he had just completed, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He'd already gone through his usual morning routine, ending with a visit to the memorial, and though it was lunchtime he didn't particularly find himself hungry, so he was surprised to find himself outside a familiar noodle shop. Shrugging inwardly he found an empty stool figuring that though he wasn't feeling hungry his subconscious must want him to eat.

Just as he was finishing he felt a familiar, though taking into consideration his location, not completely unexpected presence approaching the small restaurant. Feeling torn, he wasn't sure if he wanted to stay or try and avoid Konoha's number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja.

Belatedly he realized it was too late to make a quiet exit as Ayame returned from whatever errand it was her father had discretely sent her on upon realizing the Copy Ninja would be frequenting their small establishment. He had always found it easier to send her away rather than allow her to make a scene or give too much ramen away. He could understand why his daughter was so infatuated with the silver haired jonin, having seen the man's face himself. But it still didn't justify her flirting with him at every opportunity regardless of the fact that he never reciprocated. It was also never good for their business as she always let him eat on the house and more often than not he had one of his three former students with him which only added to the expense.

Inwardly sighing the dark eyed man braced himself for the loud intrusion of the generally well meaning ninja. It just didn't seem as though it was going to be his day, and it had started off so well.

* * *

With feigned nonchalance he made his way slowly to one of the more residential areas of the village. Taking care to casually loop around his target destination several times before finally heading to the newest apartment building in town he let his mind wander. He'd been there several times previously, but never without implicit invitation, good reason or under duress. He felt silly, but for some reason he felt compelled to go. After all she had done him the same favor countless times before, so it only seemed right for him to check up on her this time.

Deciding to scorn her door, no need to unnecessarily disturb her if she really wasn't feeling well, he decided to utilize her balcony instead; he had seen her 'boys' use it often enough after all. She had always insisted on having an open door policy for them, including himself though he had never before felt the need to use it. Noiselessly he made his way to her balcony. He could tell from the ground that the doors were slightly ajar – meaning, he hoped, that she was home otherwise kunoichi or not he would definitely have to sit her down for a lecture on safety and security when she returned.

Almost absently he noted the old fashioned milk delivery box she kept on her balcony. Upon bending down to inspect it a little further he silently chuckled at finding a small medic kit in one corner with a generic note addressed to Sasuke and Naruto telling them if she isn't home to make the best use of what was in the kit and to make their way to the hospital where she would be happy to help them. The rest of the box was empty, but he could tell by the smudges on the bottom that other items had been placed in the box for later removal. Clearly she must use it to receive deliveries when she was not at home. Absently he realized this would have been a much safer location to leave any tokens of thanks he may have for the pink haired kunoichi, such as the flowers he had left in her office unintentionally starting one of the most talked about mysteries in recent gossip history. Of course there were also the chocolates and most recently the bubble bath and rubber ducky.

The uproar was only just now dying down from his last gift, the little old biddies had been confused over what to make of the rubber ducky at first, but their uncertainty had been short lived. They had decided that it was a romantic gift with a playful twist, turning the cunning coward into a _romantic_ cunning coward in the eyes of the gossips and starting a whole gift trend. Apparently rubber duckies were practically flying off the shelves along with gallons and gallons of bubble bath.

He had to grin inwardly at the string of messes he had inflicted upon his former student. The silver haired man couldn't help but admit to himself that he found it amusing to watch – perhaps he would only utilize the box for items of a more private nature… Hastily he pulled his mind back from the dangerous train of thought. This was territory he had never entered and would never allow himself to enter. Fourteen years and a former student teacher relationship made it a moral minefield he would not allow himself to tread.

Deciding he had procrastinated long enough, he cautiously inched the door open a little further. Keeping behind the thin sheer curtains she had closed across the doors, he surveyed the room. His eyes were immediately drawn to the soft splash of pink against the pale blue bedding. He was in luck, she was home and seemingly completely dead to the world – and he could tell it was just as Naruto had implied, she _was_ sick. Dehydration combined with exhaustion from over extending herself was what the loud blonde had mentioned. Taking care to make as little noise as possible he carefully made his way into her room to further assess the situation. At least that was what he used to assure himself that he wasn't going a little far in his concern for a former student.

Her room was nothing like what he would have imagined for the fiery tempered, pink haired kunoichi to posses. It was strangely sparse and yet tranquil with a color scheme of pale blues, greens and lavenders. He would have imagined something resembling an explosion of pink and feminine frills judging from what she had been like in her adolescence. His few brief glimpses of her childhood bedroom had confirmed his original guess of her personal tastes.

Once again he acknowledged that she had grown up in more ways than just chronologically. As he drew closer to her his breath caught slightly, he had just glimpsed something that forced him to consider rethinking his previous assessment. Something he would have figured she would have outgrown years ago. She shifted restlessly in her sleep confirming what he had suspected and causing him to wonder. After a moment he decided to chalk it up to the fact that she was sick and people often regressed a little to childhood when not feeling well.

She clutched to her chest what appeared to be a small, very oddly but unmistakably attired doll. Upon thinking about it for a moment he smiled, deciding he liked the idea, to his inner horror at the implications. It lifted an old, but still heavy sense of guilt from his shoulders. The doll was something he had found while on a quick but necessary solo mission in the Land of Lightning. It had been sheer dumb luck for him to stumble upon it when he did. Team 7 had just returned from a low level mission during the course of which she had been kidnapped for the first, though certainly not the last, time.

Unfortunately, her kidnapping had nothing to do with the mission and everything to do with the fact that her sensei was the infamous Copy Ninja. The idiots had actually thought they could use her as leverage to get him to do some of their dirty work for them. If they had actually been competent enemy shinobi or elite warriors it may just have worked, especially considering his recently admitted but old soft spot for his female student. But no, they were average run of the mill bandits with zero real training, not even worth working up a sweat over. So he had, of course, managed to get her back within just a couple of hours; but not before she had been terrorized by her kidnappers. Below average fighters they may have been, but they were unfortunately crueler than most.

Thankfully they didn't seem to have a death wish and the abuse had remained psychological without descending into physical or even – he shuddered to remember his worst fear at the time – sexual. She had been at the age where she could be as appealing to both boys her own age as well as men who were older and he had been doing double duty in making sure no one took advantage of her while she was still figuring out she could attract the opposite sex if she were so inclined. He would have thought nothing of killing them right there and then had they laid one inappropriate finger on his female student, consequences be damned. As it was he faced a fairly stiff reprimand for his brutal treatment of her kidnappers, though he figured the reprimand had been well worth the sense of satisfaction he had felt while beating the shit out of the men who had dared take _his_ female student.

Shortly thereafter the nightmares began. He could tell she was having nightmares by the way she would toss and turn at night only to wake with a start breathing hard and occasionally wiping tears from her eyes. She never told him what they were about, but it had been clear to him that she was either reliving whatever it was that the _kidnappers_ had done to _her_ or what _he_ had done to _them_ upon finding her. Up to that point she hadn't seen him _really_ angry and she certainly hadn't seen him almost lose it entirely while physically venting his anger on any_thing_ never mind any_one_. Sure she had seen him in action against other shinobi on missions protecting the people they were escorting or items they were transporting but she _hadn't_ seen him going almost all out against run of the mill, garden variety bandits with no real training in order to protect one of his teammates. He had viciously beaten them into the ground and they hadn't stood a chance.

The silver haired man knew himself that he had been something entirely different to her that day. He could still remember how hard she had shaken in his arms and how tightly she had clung to him as he brought her back to the clearing. He had ordered Naruto and Sasuke to set up camp in the clearing, make dinner and wait for him to return. Looking back on it he had to admit it could have been a frightening experience for her if she hadn't really thought of him as what he actually was: not a silly, chronically late pervert who daringly read porn in public but a highly trained killing machine, a living weapon, an elite assassin among other lethal and none to savory things. If it had been the first time for her to realize that, it could have made an already traumatic experience much, much worse.

Naruto had done his best to calm the pink haired girl when their team leader had brought her back to their camp that evening. She had been completely unresponsive to all efforts leaving him to put her to bed and hope she would be more responsive in the morning. The next day she had smiled and told both Naruto and Sasuke that she was fine, even though she had still seemed pretty shaken up about the whole thing. She mentioned her special kunoichi classes. Blushingly the kunoichi explained to them that they weren't all about flower arranging, homemaking skills and seduction. Kidnapping was something that happened fairly often to kunoichi as enemies usually underestimated them. Of course there was also the unsavory aspect that kidnappers generally liked having the added bonus of entertaining themselves with the captive kunoichi while they waited for their demands to be met.

Her explanation and assurances that Kakashi had taken care of the kidnappers had done little to ease their worries. In the meantime the silver haired man had sent Pakkun back to Konoha with a message including a brief account of what had happened and the kidnappers' whereabouts. In hopes to avoid a complete dressing down upon his return for the way he had treated the kidnappers, he suggested that an interrogation unit could pick them up. He had been nothing if not thorough in making sure none of them would be walking any time soon, so there was little concern that they would get away before someone could arrive to collect them. The elite jonin figured if nothing else they may be useful subjects for trainees to work on as it wasn't likely that they would have much information if they had been after him for personal reasons and not in an attempt to take revenge on the village of Konoha. All the while she had maintained that Kakashi had dealt with the situation and that everything was fine. Yes she was a little shaken up by the whole ordeal, but she had smiled when she said that and continued to insist that she would be fine with a little rest and a bit of time to get her mind around what had happened.

He had seen through her false smile. Naruto and Sasuke, intent on their rivalry, their own training and completely inexperienced with traumatized kunoichi, had reluctantly let the matter drop. They figured they would only make it worse by bringing it up over and over when she continued to insist that she was okay even though she quite clearly was not. After the completion of the mission all they really noticed was that she wasn't getting much sleep at night and pinned it down to over extending herself – not her recent abduction and excellent acting skills. Concern had been expressed by both, but upon finding there was nothing they could actually _do_, it was quietly set aside to be brought up whenever she looked particularly tired or in need of sleep but left otherwise forgotten.

He _had_ noticed, and therefore started worrying and feeling guilty about the whole ordeal right away. He had been at a loss as to what he could do until stumbling into a tiny shop while following a lead on a solo mission in the Land of Lightning. He had been tracking the missing second son of a wealthy land owner who had just been moved into first in line for his father's estate at the death of his elder brother. While in a tiny village, inquiring about his target in a small shop, a couple thugs had tried to pull off a robbery. Needless to say he had stopped them. In gratitude the elderly couple running the shop offered him a sample of their wares; he had been hesitant to accept payment for something he would have gladly done for free until they had shown him one of their more popular dolls.

It wasn't much to look at, but then that was the point. It was a blank plush doll, one to be modified to look however the owner wished. At the time it had been quite the rage. The dolls were supposed to be personalized and kept under one's pillow – a dream guardian – to keep the bad dreams away. He hadn't even hesitated when they offered him something he could possibly use to help one of his young students.

Almost absently he realized that if he had been paying attention he may have discovered his soft spot for the pink haired kunoichi earlier, if not in his eagerness to accept something that may help her, then in the particularly brutal treatment of her would-be kidnappers. He rarely lost it like that; his sense of self control was well known, though one would never have guessed by the way he had behaved that day. Even then he couldn't bear to see her suffer. Though he had always pinned it down to his concern for the overall functionality of the team, he was now beginning to see that he definitely had ulterior motives he had not been consciously aware of at the time.

When he had returned to the village and gone back to their regular training the silver haired man had sent Sasuke and Naruto off together to spar at the end of a particularly strenuous session. Once he and Sakura had been left alone he had asked for her usual help in his own training. She had gratefully obliged, barely able to keep her eyes open. Clearly she knew she was in no condition to spar with the older man. Instead she settled comfortably on his back as he started his usual regime of one fingered pushups. Once he had gotten into the rhythm of it he carefully broached the subject of her lack of sleep. He could tell that she hadn't slept much while he had been away; even as he was doing his pushups he could feel her body relaxing against his as sleep tried to claim the pink haired kunoichi. She had flushed – he was easily able to guess by her stammering words and hurried response – and denied that there was anything wrong and he had let it slide.

Several minutes later he had felt her relax entirely, her deep breathing a sign that she had fallen asleep. Absently he had wondered if she had been one of those babies who needed constant motion to fall asleep as he continued his workout, choosing to completely ignore the fact that he should discipline her for her nap during training, preferring to focus on other things instead. He had already decided he would find a discrete way to wake her when he was done and not let on to her that he knew she had fallen asleep. It had never occurred to him to wonder _why_ she had fallen asleep in the middle of the day in the bright sun while lying on his back as he did pushups when she couldn't sleep at home in her own bed at night. If he had, he may not have been so surprised to see she what she had decided on doing with her dream guardian.

When she had finally made it home that night she had found a plain brown wrapped parcel on her pillow. Curiously she had opened it, noting the faint but still identifiable scent of Kakashi's apartment clinging to the contents causing her a moment of confusion. She couldn't quite figure what the occasion may be for him to be giving her a gift. Curiously she read the little card that had been included outlining what the gift was and a short explanation of what to do with it in case she hadn't seen or heard of one before. For an instant she had been angry at his presumption before giving in to her own sense of self preservation. She hadn't been sleeping well and knew it was starting to affect her performance in the team – this was Kakashi's not so subtle way of trying to help her. Though he hadn't signed it or included a personal note or any other identifiers she had known it was from him by the distinctive mixed scent of sandalwood and cedar – the natural moth preventatives he utilized in his apartment since he tended to be gone for long periods of time. She had smiled a little, albeit confusedly, at the thought of the infamous Copy Ninja giving her a _doll_. If it ever got out, he would _never_ live it down. Her grin had widened at the thought; good thing that she had no intentions of letting it get out.

He had watched her, her expression going from complete anger to something like resignation and finally settling on an expression he couldn't quite identify. She smiled a bit at apparently nothing before dubiously setting about decorating the little blank doll with bits and pieces she pulled from various projects scattered around her room. He had settled in one of the trees outside one of her windows to make sure she received the package and at least gave it a try. The older shinobi had taken his leave before she completed her project, but had been satisfied with the results the next day when she hadn't seemed nearly as tired.

He would never have guessed that she had dressed the little doll like _him_. If she were to dress it as anyone he would have expected it would have been the Uchiha. Shaking his head he decided he would never understand the kunoichi mind. Slowly it dawned on him that the fact that _he_ had been the one to rescue her had apparently had more of an effect on her than he could have anticipated. Though he had not seen it until nearly a decade later, there it was and he wasn't sure what if anything to do about it. Hastily he pushed the thought aside focusing instead on the fact that she had kept the little doll and still apparently sought some sort of comfort from it.

She shifted again in her sleep, pulling the little doll closer, mumbling some nonsense about cinnamon spice chocolate truffles. He took that as his cue; he had been there long enough and now had something completely unexpected to think about. Silently he turned from the pink haired kunoichi, making a mental note to stop in again later in the day to see how she was doing.

As he was about to slip between the curtains, a mischievous idea struck him and he was unable to stop himself from acting on it. Quietly he snuck back to her bedside, taking one of the smaller pale green throw pillows from a nearby chair as he passed. He studied her for a moment, waiting for his opening. Finally her arms loosened as she fell into a deeper sleep. Stealthily, putting his shinobi skills to dubious use, he managed to exchange the pillow for the doll without much more than a faintly upset sounding grumble before she slipped back into a deeper sleep.

Grinning triumphantly he edged away from her line of sight should she wake, prize in hand. Once he was out of her line of vision he took a moment to study the little doll. She had done a surprisingly good job with it, right down to the scar bisecting his left eye and the always activated Sharingan. Curious and feeling strangely voyeuristic he carefully pushed the doll's mask down to pool around its neck. He had to bite back a startled laugh so as not to wake the sleeping kunoichi.

Evidently she had changed her mind more than once as to how she wanted to depict his face. Interested more than he should have been, he uncovered his left eye to assess the faint traces of markings and try to ascertain what had graced the little doll's face before the relatively nondescript face she had settled on. Judging from some of the some of the smudged features he could make out at least three previous faces, one with a huge and unsightly mole, one with large equally unsightly fish lips and a third with enormous buckteeth. Chuckling quietly to himself, he realized she had probably changed it depending on how angry he had made her during training, though why she had finally settled on the rather plain face instead of one of the grossly exaggerated ones he couldn't quite figure.

Sliding his forehead protector back into place he decided it was time for him to take his leave. Glancing over at the still sleeping medic as he carefully made his way back to her balcony he grinned, wondering how long it would take for her to notice that her dream guardian was missing. Clearly she cared for the little thing and would likely be upset at seemingly misplacing it, so he figured it wouldn't be long. Already his mind was working out the details of what he figured would be an entertaining game for him.

* * *

Feeling fully recovered she decided to stop by the hospital for a few moments to check on a couple things before heading to the café where she had arranged to meet her blonde friend Ino. To avoid making a scene she used one of the back entrances and stuck to the lesser used corridors and carefully made her way to her office.

Upon entering she found her eyes unwillingly gazing at her desk before anything else. Inwardly she groaned as she took note of a potted flowering cactus. Against her better judgment she drew closer and extracted the tiny scrap of paper partially sticking out from under the pot and read it:

'Unlike you these flowers don't need much water…'

"Oh that miserable old man is going to pay…" she grumbled at his teasing note. Though inwardly she had to admit the cactus _was_ quite beautiful and just the sort of plant any active shinobi might stand a chance of keeping alive.

* * *

Carefully he printed on the back of the Polaroid in bold block letters as to disguise his hand writing:

'Sakura,

Since you were feeling under the weather and no longer needed me I decided to take the opportunity to do a little traveling. Don't worry I'll keep in touch.

Yours,

Kakashi'

Chuckling to himself he carefully dropped the photo of her dream guardian - propped up on the rooftop of the hospital with the Hokage Monument in the background - into a stamped envelope addressed to his former student. He would drop it in the mail just before his next mission.


	8. Chapter Eight: Intervals

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I'm so completely bowled over by the continued overwhelming response to my little bit of a fluff fic! Thank yous go out to everyone who has been kind enough to review – the encouragement really does keep me going when I hit those awful blocks (writer's) and get so annoyed with the fic that I want to toss my laptop out the window… Not that it's happened any time recently… no… not at all… Chapter nine is going swimmingly… yup…It's going very well…

Um, right. So I've decided to squiff round with my outline and things are a little 'under construction' at the moment, but I still do have high hopes for posting chapter nine on time next Saturday. As always (though I've been awful and not posting much) check my LJ for updates… I _will_ get better at posting there. :)

Mega huge thanks, as always, to my lovely beta FlameTwirler! You rock for helping me pull this chapter out of thin air!! Thank you!!!

* * *

Chapter Eight: Intervals

Feeling more drained than usual Sakura tiredly made her way back to her apartment with every intention of heading for her bed. She had just finished an overnight shift followed by a lunch date with her blonde friend. They had enjoyed spending the pleasant hour planning the smaller details of their upcoming trip to the hot springs. Turning a corner, she found herself flushing faintly for a moment upon seeing her former sensei casually propping up the wall of the convenience store at the end of her street, his nose buried in one of his ever present little orange books. She had hoped to find out what had happened to her dream guardian before running into him. Somewhere in-between getting sick and recovering she seemed to have misplaced it, and the fact that she couldn't for the life of her remember what she could have done with it _or_ find the soft doll after almost tearing her apartment apart, was driving her nuts.

It wasn't monetarily valuable, though it did hold great _sentimental_ value to her as well as the great potential for embarrassment of truly horrific proportions. The sheer humiliation alone of the possibility of her former sensei finding out what she had done with the silly little doll he had given her when she was a genin was enough to make her go running for the hills, never mind the fact that she still _had_ the adorable little plushie and _occasionally_ sought comfort from it.

"'Afternoon Sakura," he smiled, inwardly grinning at the faint blush she had managed to control fairly quickly, correctly attributing it to the fact that he had taken her dream guardian – though _she_ had no idea that he was the one who had taken it, or perhaps that it had been taken at all, _yet_. Inwardly he mused that he had been right, it hadn't taken very long for her to notice it was missing and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it or how he _should_ feel about it. Mentally shaking his head to clear it he closed his book, putting it away with practiced ease, and joined her in walking toward her apartment.

"Hello Kakashi, what are you doing in this part of the village?" She smiled at him, unable to keep her weariness from her voice but still able to mask her surprise at seeing him so close to her apartment – most likely with out a _real_ reason. As tired as she was she managed to find some energy for the silver haired man. He _could_ be tiring when he chose to be, but his company was for the most part always welcome.

He shrugged; "Just trying to fill the time before my next mission with a good book…" he looked at her more closely, actually seeing _just_ how tired she _really_ was and starting to feel just the slightest bit guilty for it. Clearly she must have been overworking herself again, on the fast track to having a relapse of her earlier bout of exhaustion. He tried vainly to convince himself that it couldn't possibly have anything to do with her missing dream guardian.

She laughed, "I see. So there's no particular reason for you to be in _this_ part of the village then?" As she spoke with him she found some of her energy coming back to her, a second wind so to speak, though not nearly enough to actually do much of anything but just enough to keep her from falling asleep on her feet.

He pretended to think about it for a moment. "Well you see, as I as on my way to one of my favorite reading spots I came across this cute little girl. She was very upset; apparently her kitty had run away and while she was chasing him she had gotten lost and couldn't find her way home, though she did manage to catch her wayward kitty. She's an agile little thing, should enter the academy…"

The pink haired woman groaned realizing she shouldn't have asked for and expected a straightforward answer form her former sensei. "Let me guess, you walked her back home and just happened to end up here?"

He feigned surprise, quite well she thought. "Why yes, how on earth did you guess?"

"I've known you too long _not_ to know where that particular story was going." Despite herself she had to laugh, feeling a little less bone weary, but still drained and tired.

He grinned at her, "Once I was here I figured it was as good a place as any to catch up a little on my reading."

"I see. Is that what you had planned to do all day then?" she asked looking for a possible hidden agenda. He _was_ following her home after all, though for the life of her she couldn't imagine what he might have wanted from her since he was clearly not in need of any medical expertise – not that she could provide him with any sort of healing since she was so exhausted with her chakra almost depleted.

"I had thought I might eventually come across someone to spar with later on…" He eyed her from the corner of his eye and adroitly changed the subject. "You seem absolutely exhausted. Long shift?"

She sighed, feeling her cheeks tint a little at his comment. "Yes and no. Or rather it wasn't longer than any of my usual shifts… It was just…" she gestured with her hands vaguely, hoping to get the point across since words were failing her. She was _not_ about to tell him she had been losing sleep since realizing the silly little doll he had given her when she was a child had gone missing – never mind the fact that she had dressed the ridiculous little thing like _him_ and was terrified someone would actually _find_ it.

"So if it wasn't the hospital, why _are_ you so tired then?" The dark eyed man pretended to have an epiphany. "Oh! New boyfriend keeping you up at night?" He asked, knowing he would illicit an adverse reaction from the tired medic and hoping it would bring some of the energy he was used to seeing in her back.

"_Kakashi_!" she exclaimed giving him a half hearted swat and looking around them to see if there were any people within hearing distance, horrified at the thought of what _that_ particular comment may do to the gossip mill. Things had actually started to go back to normal until he had left the cactus on her desk. It had been met with great approval by the little old biddies, a beautiful _and_ thoughtful gift. Some of the village girls were actually starting to express a little jealousy over her supposed 'secret admirer.' Shaking her head of the unwanted thoughts she pulled her mind back to the present and her search for any of the well known gossip mongers hanging around the area. Upon finding none she hissed, "You _know_ I've given up men for the time being. Not worth the effort…" Some more of her energy came back to her and she shot him a dirty look, "not that _your_ recent actions have made that particular area of my life any easier you know…"

He chuckled unapologetically and ignored her unspoken accusation over his series of teasing 'anonymous' gifts. "So if it's not a man keeping you up at night, what's the trouble then?" For a moment he thought to ask her if it was a girl keeping her up at nights, but he figured that may be a little much for the marginally livelier but still drained kunoichi to handle at the moment.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye with suspicion for a moment before shaking her head to clear the silly thoughts – there was just _no_ _way_ that he could have had anything to do with the disappearance of her dream guardian. Finally giving in she figured to tell him the truth. "I just haven't been sleeping very well lately, that's all." She sighed, "Must still be a little tired I guess." She smiled, hoping he would buy her little half truth.

"Hmm," he vocalized. Feeling just a _little_ bit more guilty, but not quite guilty enough to ignore an interesting idea as it occurred to him. Instead he decided to act on it. "Since you're obviously not in any condition to spar, why don't you come help me with some of my training then?"

"I don't know Kakashi, I'm pretty tired… I had every intention of going home to sleep for the next day or so…" She yawned for effect, more to tease him than anything else; she knew she would help him with his training – she always did. The medic _was_ tired, but not _that_ tired, already after speaking to him she had felt some of her energy return. He rarely sought her out so when he did she always made an effort to accommodate him.

"C'mon Sakura, no effort is required on your part… and when I'm done I'll even buy you some gelato." He tried, knowing she would give in – she always did. He just had to offer her the right item in exchange to suit her mood.

"Ooo, _gelato_?!" she exclaimed allowing her sweet tooth to override her flagging exhaustion, although she did have to admit to herself that she would have eventually agreed if he had been persistent enough.

He chuckled, realizing that he had found the right weak spot for the day, and decided to file it away for later exploitation. "Come on then."

"Alright, but I'm _not_ forgetting about your promise of gelato. You'd better deliver old man otherwise you can forget about me helping you with your own training _ever_ again."

He laughed and changed direction to head toward his favorite training ground.

Once they arrived he didn't wait to be asked to shed his vest and over shirt, instead he removed them and positioned himself ready for her to arrange herself on his back. Almost absently he hoped she wouldn't fidget too much this time. He had only _just_ been able to shake the feeling of her squirming against his back the last time she had helped him with his pushups from his mind – inwardly he wondered if his subconscious was doing this to himself on purpose.

After thinking about it a bit more he couldn't help but question his actions. _Had_ he been conning her into helping him with his training because a part of him wanted to spend time with her? He could have just as easily used some of Guy's weights, or asked any number of people to take her place, yet he never did – the thought hadn't even crossed his mind until just then. And now that she had insisted upon him removing his vest and over shirt, was he asking her because it was something they always did together or because of a deeper reason than simply needing more resistance for his pushups to be effective training?

The pink haired woman sighed inwardly and quickly settled herself on his back with minimal fuss and shifting around – she chose to lie on her stomach, rather than her back as she had found it was just plain more comfortable for her and she wasn't in the mood to annoy the older man with moving around trying to find the one spot that didn't have one of his scapula poking her. Yawning the medic folded one of her arms under her head and found herself truly relaxing for the first time in several days before he had completed his first dozen pushups.

The Copy Ninja kept his mind on what he was doing, only barely managing to block the all too pleasant sensation of her entire body pressed against his. He chose not to say anything as he felt her shift into a comfortable position on his back, ending up with her head pillowed on one of her arms, the other dangling comfortably over his shoulder. He was not surprised to feel her relax completely against him after a few moments, obviously asleep. Inwardly he sighed, realizing that he now had plenty of time to question his subconscious motives with her all too familiar weight sprawled out on his back – he knew it would be a _long_ afternoon.

* * *

He laughed to himself at the dirty looks his team shot him as he arrived at the gate. They'd been waiting for at least three hours, probably closer to three and a half, but none of them would say anything to him about it. The team he had been assigned to for this particular mission did not know him very well and all of them were of much lower rank, so he would probably not hear any complaints about his tardiness from the clearly annoyed shinobi.

As he passed through the gate he mused absently at what she would do upon receiving the Polaroid. He felt only a little bit guilty at the fact that she hadn't been sleeping very well since he had abducted her dream guardian, though after some thought he had been able to rationalize his own actions to himself and he dismissed it as probably a coincidence. She _was_ 22 and a more than capable kunoichi, long past the age where the presence of a doll could provide any _real_ comfort. The pink haired woman was probably just still suffering the after effects of her bout of exhaustion and dehydration – she had gone back to work far too soon in his non medical opinion. Tsunade had been right in her assertion that she could easily burn out at the rate she was going if she didn't slow down or start spending time working on less strenuous medical areas.

He consciously chose to ignore the fact that she had fallen asleep on his back while he had been doing his pushups the day before and the long internal dialogue he had held with himself about his own motives for his most recent actions. In the end he hadn't liked the conclusion he had reached, and had decided to ignore it – though he did have to admit on a much deeper level that his conclusion was right and not something to be ignored.

Becoming better and better at rationalizing things to himself he had decided that she had just been tired form a long shift at the hospital and a general lack of sleep and had fallen asleep, just as she had when she was younger after a long day of training and a general lack of sleep, end of story. The only difference between the two incidents being that this time she had proved to be almost too much of a distraction with her full length pressed against his back, separated by only the thin material of her uniform and his form fitting under shirt and his thankfully thick baggy jonin pants. It had taken _all_ of his willpower to continue on with his usual pushups as though nothing was amiss regardless of the fact that she was blissfully napping on his back and his mutinous mind kept trying to point things out he would rather _not_ know about.

As he walked along with his team he couldn't seem to pull his mind from his former pink haired student. Despite his thoughts on the subject the day before, he couldn't help but wonder if she _really_ didn't need him as he had implied in the note he had just spent the past couple hours mailing to her. He also couldn't prevent his mind from slipping to what his hokage had said to him before his last mission with her. The pink haired medic was nothing if not fiercely independent – he couldn't possibly be holding her back, could he? She would never let him, would she?

* * *

Wearily she collected her mail from her box in the lobby of her apartment building. As she was closing the little door of her mail box she heard the distinctive tread of her the superintendent. Inwardly she cursed; she was still having some trouble sleeping and was consequently too tired to have to deal with him just then. The blasted man just couldn't seem to take a hint sometimes. He could be worse than Lee given the right circumstances and the added fact that he was her landlord did _not_ improve matters. The annoying man was smart enough to never _overtly_ make a pass at her, knowing all too well of her two former teammates and their penchant of beating the living daylights out of any man foolish enough to try and romance her. Silently she hoped she was wrong. Unfortunately the tired woman's hearing proved correct as the older bespectacled brown haired man rounded the corner – stopping as soon as he noticed her standing by the bank of mailboxes.

"Well hello Sakura! It's not often that I'm granted the pleasure of seeing _you_." He smiled and let his eyes wander her form from her neck down to her toes and back up to her eyes, inwardly she shuddered at his blatant show of interest. He always paid her a little extra special attention, though never actually acted upon whatever it was he may have found appealing in her and something about him had always made her skin crawl just a little.

"Hello Hideki, nice to see you too." She smiled, though the expression didn't quite reach her eyes. To all appearances he seemed like a nice enough guy, but there was just _something_ about him that made her distinctly uncomfortable. He wasn't a shinobi and had no training in any sort of fighting, but deep down on some level she just didn't feel quite at ease with him. Yes she was a well trained and competent kunoichi that could easily take someone like him out if necessary, but there was just something on a more instinctive level about him that warned her away from the unctuous man.

He stepped closer, and she groaned inwardly realizing he was going to attempt to strike up a conversation with her, it wasn't something he often tried, but when he did it was almost impossible to get away from him. As exhausted as she was, she just _wasn't_ in the mood.

"So Sakura… I was thinking…" he started, almost hesitantly – though she knew instinctively that his hesitancy was feigned.

Deciding she could afford to bring him up short _just_ this once she interrupted his little charade. "I'm _really_ sorry Hideki, but I'm absolutely _exhausted._ I haven't been sleeping very well lately and I just finished a double shift at the hospital. I don't think I can stay awake much longer. I was just on my way back to my apartment to sleep for the next day and a half." She tried an apologetic smile, hoping he would buy it and take pity on her enough to let her go, but not enough to either try and escort her to her apartment or try to ascertain just what it was that was causing her sleeping difficulties.

His expression flickered for a moment; if she had blinked she would have missed it, before taking on what appeared to be a sincerely concerned cast. "Oh! Please excuse me then! Go, go to bed. I'm sure I'll catch you again…"

Feeling slightly guilty and kicking herself for it she decided to throw him a bone. "Maybe another time?"

He smiled and made an aborted motion toward her before settling on an awkward little wave.

As hastily as she could while still exuding an aura of exhaustion, she beat a retreat to her apartment, heaving a huge sigh of relief once the disconcerting man was out of her sight. As she made her way down the hall to her door she shuffled through the envelopes setting most aside as either junk mail or bills. One caught her attention as clearly neither and she kept it at the top of her little stack as she unlocked and entered her apartment.

After setting the pile down to start a pot of tea she finally sat down to open her mail, starting with the envelope that had caught her eye as having contents that were not immediately identifiable. Carefully opening the envelope she found only a Polaroid with no note or letter. Curiously she examined the photograph, the color draining from her face as she did so, finding that it was of her dream guardian propped up somewhere high with the Hokage Monument in the background. Looking for some sort of explanation she checked the envelope again before flipping the photo to find the curious block writing:

'Sakura,

Since you were feeling under the weather and no longer needed me I decided to take the opportunity to do a little traveling. Don't worry I'll keep in touch.

Yours,

Kakashi'

She felt her stomach fall about fifty feet, and was happy that she was seated when she read the message. _Someone_ had her dream guardian and was clearly having a little fun at her expense. Up until that point she had hoped, _really _hoped that she had somehow misplaced the personalized plushie somewhere in her apartment and that it would eventually turn up once she stopped looking for it. Unfortunately the Polaroid crushed the hope she had been so vainly clinging to and confirmed one of her worst fears for the little doll. Still not quite panicking she sat trying to logically think her way through it. Someone was playing a joke on her, the largest question being _who_ with _why_ following close after. _How_ was another good question, but was rather easily solved as she knew it had happened while she was sick and anyone could have easily entered her apartment and taken it while she wasn't at her best. The pink haired woman's embarrassment flared at the thought of someone not only _finding_ the little doll but finding out the personal fact that she had dressed it as her former sensei. On a deeper level the actual message itself troubled her, though she couldn't quite put a finger on _why_.

* * *

The pink haired woman smiled to herself as she finished getting ready for dinner. Thoughts of her missing dream guardian were banished from her mind as it had been _weeks_ since she had received the Polaroid and she hadn't heard anything or received another photograph. Now her blonde and dark haired boys were back in the village and had insisted on taking her out for dinner. She had been more than happy to agree to go with them on the one stipulation that they not eat at Ichiraku, much to Naruto's disappointment.

Just as she was finishing with her hair, adjusting the combs Kakashi had given to her for her birthday – she only wore them for special occasions – her boys materialized on her balcony. After allowing them in the first time they had shown up on her balcony she had found that she had set an occasionally irritating precedent. It was now impossible to get them to use her 'front' door like any normal guests.

Their affinity of using her balcony to enter her apartment, usually unannounced, had already caused no end of trouble and embarrassment for her. Both of them had seen her in various stages of dress as well as completely _un_dressed on more than one occasion. The only satisfying thing for her from those instances was the fact that _both_ of them had on more than one occasion acquired nosebleeds for their trouble, much to her complete amusement and inner gratification. She had to suppose that it was probably a good thing that after the first few instances, her modesty as far as her boys were concerned became non-existent. This was _especially_ true since they had interrupted her nocturnal activities with her then-current beau not once but twice – much to her chagrin. After hastily getting dressed she had tracked them down on a rampage and flown at them in fury, yet they continued to use it as their preferred point of entry to her apartment, despite the massive punishments meted out to them after each indiscretion. After that, she was smart enough to limit all nocturnal activities with male companions to _their_ places rather than hers as to avoid a repetition of what had happened the previous two times her boys had interrupted.

"Hey Sakura, you ready _yet_?" the ever impatient blonde asked as he entered her bedroom, his dark haired compatriot following him closely. "You were supposed to meet us outside ten minutes ago!"

She turned from her mirror to greet her two friends with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. It's been a while since I've gone out somewhere nice so I had a little trouble finding something suitable to wear."

"You look fine," the dark eyed man assured her, after a quick up and down glance to take in her appearance.

She blushed a little at the unexpected compliment from her usually _un_complimentary former teammate. "Thanks," she murmured as she turned back to the mirror for one last adjustment to her hair. "Okay, I'm all set. Let's go."

The blue eyed man followed her hands to her hair as she finished her adjustments. "Those are nice… hair… things."

She laughed at his not very well thought out, but still sincere, compliment. "Thanks Naruto, Kakashi gave them to me for my birthday."

The blonde man elbowed his friend none too subtly. "Speaking of gifts Sakura…"

Inwardly she groaned; she had been waiting to hear from them about this. Actually she was surprised it had taken them this long to work up the tenacity to ask her about it. But expecting to hear them ask and having them actually do it were two very different things.

"We were wondering," the blue eyed man continued, completely oblivious to the sudden change in his female friend's demeanor, "about all those gifts you've been receiving lately…"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at his friend's total lack of finesse. "What the idiot means, is that we are a little concerned about the source of those strange _anonymous_ gifts you seem to have been intermittently receiving at the hospital… from a secret admirer I presume?"

She laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing for you to concern yourselves with."

The excitable young man stepped closer to her. "So you _do_ know more than you're letting on!" He jabbed an elbow at his friend again. "I _told_ you she knew!" He turned his attention back to his pink haired friend. "So, just _who_ is this anonymous _friend_ of yours then?"

She widened her eyes in feigned surprise, actually feeling a little surprised at the dark haired man's sudden genuine interest in the conversation as he leaned forward ever so slightly as if to better hear her answer. "Oh, I'm sorry Naruto. I have no idea who is leaving those gifts for me…" she trailed off hoping _both_ men would buy the right out lie. Lying wasn't one of her strong suits.

"Aw, _Sakura_! C'mon, you _must_ know something!"

"You wouldn't continue to accept those gifts if you didn't at least _suspect_ where they were coming from…" the dark eyed man suggested, trying and failing to hide his own interest in her secret admirer.

Inwardly she cursed as she found a slight hole in her plan to go along with the village's idea that the gifts were from a secret admirer. "I don't have much of a choice now do I?" she asked, careful not to show her annoyance. She hadn't used her acting skills for quite some time and was beginning to wonder if she would be able to pull off not knowing who her 'secret admirer' was to the two people who knew her better than most of the village.

Knitting his brow in slight confusion, "I don't understand. What do you mean you don't have much of a choice?" the occasionally dense blonde man asked.

"Well, since I have _no_ idea where the gifts are coming from I certainly can't refuse them… They might be from someone important or," with effort she managed a light blush, "someone I might actually be interested in…"

The two men's eyes narrowed at her seeming confession, both of them thinking the same thing: if he wasn't willing to show himself and face the two of them one way or another, then he didn't deserve to be with _their_ kunoichi, end of story.

"But surely you must have at least _some_ idea where they're coming from…" the Uchiha started before she cut him off.

"Sorry, he wouldn't be a _secret_ admirer if I knew who he was, now would he?" She eyed them looking for signs of them accepting that she didn't know who her 'secret admirer' was, at least for the time being. Upon seeing the beginnings of grudging acceptance she hastily changed the subject. "Come on you two, we're going to be late and miss our reservation."

* * *

As usual he heard the familiar knock on his door, signaling that his former student was there to ensure he had returned without injuries. Steeling himself he went to the door, having decided while on the mission he had just returned from that he would push her away – thus making sure that he wasn't holding her back from doing what she wanted to do. Granted it would probably take time since he had let it go on as long as it had, but he was willing to give it all the time necessary. If she no longer felt that it was necessary for her to stop in to check up on him after all of his missions, it might ease the slight sense of guilt mixed with something he couldn't quite identify that he had been annoyed to discover while away from the village.

Inwardly he blamed one of the younger shinobi who had been assigned to his team. The foolish man couldn't have known of Kakashi's previous student-teacher relationship with the pink haired medic. The shinobi had loudly complained, when the topic of women had been brought up, that it seemed like every time he managed to land himself in the hospital the medic he had spent his free time fantasizing about hadn't been available to treat him. Consequently he had then blamed it all on whatever it was that tended to sporadically pull her from her duties at the hospital before continuing on with exactly what he would like to do with her if he were ever to be granted the chance to spend some time alone with her. With an act of supreme self control the silver haired man was able to ignore the idiot's comments and continue on with the mission – though he did 'accidentally' manage to take the foolish young man out while on their return trip during an impromptu sparring session to demonstrate several additional ways of disarming an opponent that he had used during the course of the mission and his teammates had never seen before.

The knocking on his door became louder as he dawdled; causing him to hastily pull his thoughts back to the present and unlock the door. Upon opening it and seeing the genuine concern in her eyes he found himself, despite all of his intentions, unable to send her away. Inwardly he sighed and opened the door wide enough for her to enter.


	9. Chapter Nine: Hot Spring

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Oh wow, thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! I'm thrilled to see that people seem to be enjoying my little fluff fic! This chapter has a little bit of crack-like elements in it, just to warn everyone. I'm on the fence about my next chapter. I'm at one of those blasted crossroads, I can either post a chapter I've already written and waste some truly prime opportunities or I can add another chapter making use of those opportunities before posting the next chapter… I'm still not quite sure, though I only have maybe half of the added chapter written at this time so I'm not sure if I'll be able to complete it on time… So far I've been lucky enough to have a truly skilled beta (thanks go out as always to FlameTwirler!) who has been able to work with me on last minute chapters and have been able to meet my self imposed deadlines. So here's hoping I'll be able to pull another chapter from thin air for next week. :)

* * *

Chapter Nine: Hot Spring

Feeling somewhat annoyed Kakashi made his way to his hokage's office. After being away from the village for over a month of grueling reconnaissance work he was getting sent right back out on some unnamed mission. To say that he was irked would be an understatement. He was so irritated with the situation that he was almost on time, by his standards that is, to his meeting with the busty blonde medic. Generally he didn't particularly care if he was sent back out as soon as he returned; heck he had done as many as six back to back missions in the past with no real trouble. If the village needed his services he would oblige.

His annoyance though this time had nothing to do with him being tired or wanting to sleep in his own bed after over a month of being away. It had nothing whatsoever to do with _him_, rather he was perturbed that he had been interrupted in playing his games with a certain pink haired medic. He probably would have enough time to send her another photo and leave some sort of a gift, but he figured it would be too suspicious. The local gossips may start to put Sakura receiving gifts together with the fact that it only happened when he was in the village and she may figure out that she would receive photos when he had been in the village. From what little he had heard since he had returned the gossip of her secret admirer had died down considerably, if he wanted to continue it he would have to do it soon otherwise the whole thing would lose momentum and it wouldn't be nearly as much fin as it had been.

Tsunade looked up as he entered her office. "Ah, Kakashi, you're here, good." She looked back down to the scroll she had been studying, scribbling a couple notes at the bottom she hastily rolled it and dropped it in the basket Shizune or Sakura had placed beside her desk before looking up once again to assess his foul mood. She could certainly understand it, but still found it a little strange since he had never particularly cared how many missions he went on or how often he went out – back to back missions were something he usually _welcomed_.

"Tsunade," he greeted her raising his head a little in respect. He was unwilling to say anything else in the rotten mood that he was in for fear that the easily excitable hokage would saddle him with a load of D ranked missions, or _worse_ another genin team, as punishment for his lack of respect or rarely sighted temper.

She sighed, realizing just _how_ miserable of a mood he was in, a feat for the usually stoic man. "Kakashi, I'm sure you're aware that I summoned you for another mission." She held up her hand to cut off any protest that may be waiting for her. "I know you just returned early this morning after being away for over a month, and I'm sorry but time _is_ critical for this next mission. The client has _already_ waited over two weeks for you to return from your last mission."

His eye widened as he realized that he had been requested specifically by the client and his aggravated mood begun to fade. It wasn't unheard of, but didn't happen all too often for shinobi with _his_ particular talents –assassination and tracking. Generally the body guards, security specialists, highly specialized kunoichis and even medics were those who built the sort of reputations that brought in missions requesting a shinobi by name. Most clients requiring his sort of skills wanted to know as little as possible about the details of his missions, they tended to feel the less they knew the better and didn't care what happened so long as the unnamed shinobi was successful. Those who _did_ want to know the details tended to shy away from someone as well known as Konoha's Copy Ninja since he had been in every Bingo book for the past twenty years and someone of his reputation could be considered too intimidating a shinobi to hire by name.

Feeling more at ease at the silver haired man's apparent interest despite himself, the light brown eyed woman decided to continue. "I really am sorry to send you out again so soon after such a long and demanding mission, but I rather think you might actually _enjoy_ this one." She rummaged around on her desk for a moment before pulling a clearly often handled scroll and tossing it to him.

Reflexively he reached out and caught it, breaking the seal to open it without thinking. He skimmed the contents once before looking up at the medic in askance. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

She snickered and shook her head in a negative. "Nope, that's a _real_ mission. They're even paying the S-rank rate for it in addition to the extra fee for requesting a specific shinobi _and_ the fee required to get _you_…"

"They must be pretty desperate I take it?" he asked, mentally calculating the pay off from an S-ranked request mission. It added up to a very nice paycheck especially coupled with the lengthy reconnaissance mission he had just returned from. Not that he particularly needed the money, but it would make a nice addition to his bank account nonetheless.

She rolled her eyes, "You have _no_ idea. A representative has been sent down here every day since they submitted the request to make sure I still had the mission scroll and to find out if you had returned yet." She sighed in frustration. "Anyway, now that you're back you can set out immediately," the blonde woman paused, "that is if you've already seen your medic?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. She had decided not to push the issue too much with him unless her pink haired medic should actively change her mind about their current situation. Far be it from her to stop her student from doing something she seemed dead set on doing. Besides, she now could use it as leverage against him in the future if she should need it.

The dark eyed man glared at her. "Yes I've already seen Sakura. Or rather she has already seen me. I'm fit to go back out."

"Good, you can meet your partner at the gate in an hour." She noted his annoyed expression return, "It's in there. I'm sending you out with a partner to make sure you stay on track. I can easily see you getting distracted upon finding your target…" she looked back down at her paperwork on her desk and inwardly groaned as she remembered the only person available to assign to such a frivolous mission with Kakashi. In their case it was probably going to be the blind leading the blind, but they were the _only_ two mission ready jonin available and able to be spared in the village at the moment. Since the client was so impatient she couldn't imagine trying to make them wait even longer for another jonin to return or one of the ones in the village to become available.

* * *

Happily she made her way into the main building with her friends. It had been a long day of travel, but well worth it with the promise of the famous hot springs. She felt gritty and travel weary and above all _starving. _She simply could not wait to slip into the soothing hot waters but would like to fill her empty stomach first.

The blonde headed to the front desk to check them in and double check to make sure that

the other reservations they had made were also in order. They had reserved the private hot spring for their use while they were there – none of them were particularly shy about using a public bath, but they were not particularly in the mood of trying to hide their professions. All four girls were adept at hiding what they were – as kunoichi it was part of the job description.

Unfortunately it could become a little difficult when they got together and shed their clothes; between the four of them they had enough scars for a good dozen ordinary male citizens. Generally in any situation where hiding their profession was necessary, other than bathing with other women, whoever they were with when they were required to shed their clothes were too focused on _other_ things to notice the presence of extra scars. If they _did_ notice the scars, the scars were _not_ what they remembered later.

The blonde returned to her three companions with their keys and reassurances of the private hot spring being held for their exclusive use starting in the morning. For the time being they would dump their stuff in their rooms – a suite with private rooms for each of them – and head into the restaurant as dinner was just starting to be served. They would hit the springs in the morning.

* * *

"Shhh!!!" the white haired man held a finger up to his lips. "You'll scare them away before they even _get_ here!" he hissed in annoyance. Though dawn had already broken several hours prior, the sun was only then just beginning to shed light upon the little clearing containing the Icha Icha author, the two shinobi sent to find him and one very tall, thick and compromised wall.

The silver haired man sighed in disgust; he had finally found the elusive sannin, doing what he always did when left to his own devices – peeping. Though if one were to ask the legendary ninja he would be quick to make the correction, he was conducting research or on occasion consulting his muses.

Unfortunately his companion was not nearly as disgusted as he was with the perverted shinobi. Instead the shaggy brown haired man quickly scooted over next to the legendary pervert even though the secluded private hot spring and adjoining little changing house they were currently observing was empty – it was far too early for anyone to be up and in the spring quite yet.

"We've got to talk Jiraiya," the dark eyed man began, not bothering to lower his voice much more than his usual speaking volume in hopes of quickly settling with the man before women appeared to distract him.

The older man turned from his precious chink in the wall to shoot the younger man a pained look. "Kakashi, _please…_ I've been waiting for _hours; _they could appear any minute now. _What_ _do you want_?"

The Copy Ninja sighed in irritation; it had taken them a week with the aid of Pakkun and various other ninken to finally track the perverted sannin down. Now all he wanted to do was to drag the old man back to Konoha, collect his pay, check in on his medic friend, and spend a couple days catching up on his reading. Inwardly he smiled at the thought that upon dragging Jiraiya back the next Icha Icha volume would be put into production since it was his editors who had hired him to bring back either the next completed volume of his treasured Icha Icha series or the author himself.

On a deeper level he was also looking forward to continuing the games he had started with his female former student. It had been so long since he had left anything for her at the hospital he figured the talk of her 'secret admirer' must have died down considerably if not entirely. He would have to come up with something really interesting to leave when he returned, that is if he wanted to continue his, rather _their_ little game... He also hadn't had time to send her a second Polaroid during the brief hours he had been back in the village. She might begin to suspect he was the one sending her the photos if she only received the little notes 'from' her dream guardian when he was in the village. He would have to figure something out when he returned. Inwardly sighing he pushed the troublesome thoughts of the pink haired woman from his mind in order to concentrate on the situation at hand.

"Your editors are very upset with you Jiraiya, you promised them the next volume _four_ months ago and promptly disappeared once they started asking you for it in earnest."

The older man made an impatient noise and waved his hand negligently, "Oh _that_."

Suddenly feeling annoyed at the white haired man he snapped. "Yes _that,_ now come on we're heading back to Konoha or I will make it known to everyone in the area that a dangerous peeping pervert has been sighted and _all_ women should stay indoors until further notice..."

The older man looked torn between abandoning his station to take the silver haired man seriously and staying put and trying to reason with him while hoping the girls would be along soon. His desire to stay and wait for the girls quickly won out over his annoyance at the younger man.

"Look, can't we work out some sort of deal here?" he asked trying to come up with a suitable trade; it really _was_ about time for him to return to Konoha. His newest volume had been done for quite some time, but for reasons of his own he had wanted to delay the publish date. His publishers had stopped putting money into his bank account for royalties et cetera in retribution for his disappearing act and in hopes that once he ran out of money he would return to collect what they owed him if nothing else. As a consequence he was beginning to find himself in a bit of financial difficulty as his funds steadily slipped away to feed his few but expensive vices.

Knowing that if the sannin was to actually put up a _real_ fight that he and his partner would be in for some trouble the annoyed jonin nodded slightly to show he was listening.

"Good, good…Now let me see, what can I offer my _number_ _one_ _fan_ to keep him quiet for say…" he paused trying to come up with a nice starting figure. "Ten days before going back to the village?"

"One day Jiraiya. We'll stay quiet for one day, any longer and we'll follow through and let it be known that there is a peeping pervert in the area. Once people know this you'll be able to kiss all your 'research' time good bye."

"Okay, okay, ten days _was_ too many, how about five?" he wheedled.

"One and a half," the masked man conceded with an annoyed edge to his voice.

"Three! How about three?! I'll even throw a little something extra in for you…" he let it hang suggestively – knowing full well that Kakashi was a huge fan and there must be _some_ secret fantasy he would love to see appear in print or perhaps a woman he may like to see take on a role in his next book.

The Icha Icha addicted man's mind reeled at the possibilities of what the older man could have been suggesting, unhappily his pink haired friend featured prominently in all of them. Hastily he pulled his thoughts back to reality upon feeling a sharp pain in his ankle. Looking down he found his oft used summons had sunk his teeth into his leg to get his attention.

"Kakashi, there's something you'll probably want to know…" the little pug began after releasing his friend's ankle from his jaws.

"In a minute Pakkun." He turned his attention back to the perverted man to find that he was grinning widely and sighed. "Two days, that's my final offer."

"Kakashi, there's something you _really_ should…" the little pug whined insistently.

"In a minute Pakkun, I'm sure it can wait just a moment." In the distance he could hear feminine voices and he knew that once the girls the dirty old man had been waiting for showed up there would be _no_ talking to Jiraiya, never mind bargaining with him.

The older man must have also heard the sounds of the women approaching and quickly nodded his ascent. "Agreed, you let me stay here for two more days – making _no_ fuss about my research – and I'll go quietly back to Konoha and submit my book to my editors like the good author I am. Now promise me _not_ interfere with me _or_ my research until then."

"Kakashi you _really_ _shouldn't…_" the pug began again, pawing at his old friend's pant leg in frustration.

The silver haired man glared at his canine friend, he was now almost able to decipher individual voices from the general echoing babble in the enclosed changing area next to the natural hot spring. Sensing his window of negotiating time closing quickly, he nodded "Agreed." Finally he looked down at his small friend, "What was it you wanted to tell me Pakkun?"

The little dog growled in annoyance at his old friend. Before he could speak though the voices suddenly resolved themselves into four distinct women as they exited the changing house, presumably clad in towels.

* * *

"… but seriously Hinata you need to be more aggressive if you want to have any chance of catching Naruto's eye…" the pink haired woman admonished as they exited the changing area, all four women were wrapped in towels and finally ready to enjoy the hot spring.

"Yeah, he's too dense to pick up on your subtlety. He's the sort who needs to be whacked over the head with something before he even thinks to notice it." The blonde woman added.

The shy dark haired woman flushed, knowing that her friends meant well, but not quite sure if she could follow through with their advice. "I-I'll have to try harder and hope for the best."

"Well if that doesn't work let us know, we can always set something up that _will_ work." The blonde winked at her friends. "And while we're at it we can work on you too Sakura."

* * *

The silver haired man's eye widened as he recognized the voices. Without thinking he joined the two perverts at the chink in the wall to confirm what he already knew was true. He watched as Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Sakura made their way from the little changing house, clad only in very short towels. If he hadn't been so used to reading Icha Icha in public he may have had to join Genma in wiping a little trickle of blood from his nose at the sight of so much female flesh exposed. Once the shock of seeing them wore off his mind panicked just a little at the thought that as soon as they reached the spring they would be dropping their towels to enter the hot pool of water.

Irrationally he was torn between _wanting_ to watch the admittedly lovely ladies disrobe, and _not_ wanting to allow his companions to see the same sight. He knew he _shouldn't_ want to see and had no _real_ reason for him _not_ to want the two men he was with to see the women nude. Desperately he chalked the situation up to the fact that one of the women was his former student, the little girl he had spent years protecting from _both_ danger and lecherous men who were up to no good. Of course he wouldn't want other men to peep on his little kunoichi, but as he watched her walk and talk with her friends it hit him once again that she _wasn't_ a little girl anymore and the woman she had become was definitely worth a look – though he still did _not_ want to share the view with anyone else.

As he crouched frozen, he watched the women walk to and disappear behind a natural rock formation at the edge of the pool – much to the obvious displeasure of the other two men. A couple moments later they emerged from behind the rocks fully submerged in the water to settle themselves in the deeper portion of the spring.

* * *

Hastily the medic raised her hands in front of her in defense as she and her friends dropped their towels by a large natural grouping of boulders concealing benches and hooks for their towels and submerged themselves in the water before making their way into the more open area designed for sitting and soaking. "I'm just fine, thank you very much. I don't need help with any part of my life right now. Kind of you to offer, but the answer is still an emphatic no."

"Oh really?" the previously silent weapons mistress asked managing to put clear doubt in her words. "What's all this about your secret admirer then? Is _he_ why you don't need our help in setting you up with a decent guy?" She eyed the medic slyly out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh! Er… um. No, no…I wasn't even thinking of him…" she trailed off realizing they had stumbled upon the one topic she had hoped to steer them clear of for their entire holiday.

"Since it has been brought up…" the blonde woman smirked, a twinkle clearly present in her eye, "Just _who_ is this shy Romeo anyway?"

Feigning innocence she smiled a bit bemusedly. "I really couldn't say… Then again if I _could_ he wouldn't be a '_secret_ admirer' now, would he?"

Feeling somewhat chagrined the three girls exchanged looks; they had been hoping to get the identity of her secret beau while on holiday, away from the prying villagers and the local gossip mongers. They were sure she had to know _something_ about him that she wasn't telling anyone else. Otherwise, they had reasoned that she would have taken action one way or another by now – months had passed with the whole village still abuzz about it.

"Oh come now Sakura, that's not _fair_! You have to know _something_," the brunette weapons mistress wheedled.

The medic remained silent. Clearly she would say no more on the topic. Feeling slightly defeated, though not wholly, the blonde woman turned to the weapons mistress.

"So Tenten, how's it going trying to win Hinata's stoic cousin?" There was some sympathy in her voice as Ino had gone after a similar man and pursued him along side of Sakura for _years_ before giving him up as a lost cause.

The brunette blushed a deep red as did her crush's cousin. Hinata wanted very much for her friend to find happiness – but wasn't too sure if the brunette would find it in Neji.

The brown eyed woman sighed audibly. "To be honest it's going miserably." She paused but suddenly turned hopeful, flashing an expression worthy of her former sensei Guy or teammate Lee. "But that does not mean I will give up!"

Sakura sighed to herself before smiling at the optimistic woman. "I wish you the best of luck with it Tenten. I really do hope it will work out for you."

"Y-yes, I hope you are able to soften my cousin's defenses enough for the two of you to get together. He deserves some happiness in his life too…" she trailed off knowing that as a part of the Hyuga clan, Neji's life had already been planned for him, most likely down to his wife and how many children he was expected to produce with her. She had hoped that with the state of things in the family that perhaps tradition might relax enough to allow them to choose their own spouses – but had yet to see any serious progress to that end.

The blonde, a little more cynic than the others made an indelicate noise. "I say just forget about him and move on to greener pastures." She giggled as she realized what she had just said – thinking of the two green clad men in Tenten's life.

"Oh _no_!" the brown haired woman almost squealed. "I'll be more than happy to leave Lee to Sakura, thank you very much." She shuddered, "and I'm not even going to _think_ you might have meant to include Guy…"

All attention turned to the pink haired woman who was only too happily losing herself in the hot water, mostly ignoring the squabbling going around her. "Eh, what?" she asked as they were staring at her. "Don't look at _me_. I certainly don't want him either…"

The girls lapsed into silence for a few moments before the blue eyed woman decided to get a little more sober in talking to the brown haired weapons mistress. "Seriously Tenten, I know how it is chasing after a cold fish for so long… after a while you have to start to wonder when to pull up your stakes, cut your losses and move on to more responsive men." She made another indelicate sound, "and who knows, he may not even be _interested_ in women… Have you ever actually _seen_ him with one?"

Wide eyed the smitten brunette shook her head in a negative – all attention then focused on the wide white eyed woman. She flushed a little and shook her head in negation as well. "I-I never would have thought…"

The blonde kunoichi continued, "Same thing with Sasuke – all those years wasted chasing him and he might not even play for the right team to ever even be _interested_…"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at her friend's comment, inadvertently drawing their attention on back onto herself. She blushed under the scrutiny and felt the need to explain herself a little. "Sasuke is definitely attracted to women," she paused to think about it, "though that doesn't mean he isn't _also_ attracted to men…" she mused aloud as if the idea had just occurred to her.

All the women's jaws dropped at her suggestion. The resounding silence proved to be deafening. Finally the shy dark haired woman was able to shake her head and find her voice.

"H-how would you know that?" she asked with wonder evident in her voice.

The green eyed woman shrugged. "I was on his team, remember?" She asked suddenly realizing that she didn't want to have to explain just _how_ she knew – her female friends already thought she had a rather unhealthily close friendship with her former teammates. Telling them that she had let Naruto and Sasuke walk in on her on multiple occasions while dressing… She rather doubted they would _really_ understand…

"So you were on his team, and a fat lot of good it did you in winning him," the blonde woman rolled her eyes. "Just because he and Naruto beat the shit out of or intimidate all the guys you date doesn't mean that he…"

"Oh no! Nothing to do with that," she paused, really not wanting to explore this particular path. Hastily she tried a bit of a half truth, and hoped they wouldn't press for too many details. "Look, I've seen him get nosebleeds from seeing semi-clad and nude women okay?" She felt her cheeks redden and hoped they either wouldn't notice or attribute it to the hot water instead of her embarrassment.

The women looked at her in astonishment, making her feel distinctly uncomfortable. She

_really_ didn't want to admit that _she_ was the semi-clad and nude woman to cause the nosebleeds.

"When was _that_?" the blonde woman wondered aloud.

The green eyed woman shrugged as casually as she could. "Several different occasions actually – so he's at least on _some_ level physically attracted to women…"

"No kidding – nosebleeds – _really_?" Tenten asked, taking it as a sign that maybe Neji wasn't a complete lost cause as she had always inwardly feared. "And I had thought he was just as disinterested as Neji and…" she paused and flushed realizing she had spoken before she had completely thought the sentence through, "well… your former sensei Kakashi… Sure he's always reading those books and has quite the reputation but…"

* * *

The silver haired man, who had inwardly been enjoying listening to the kunoichi's unguarded conversation, suddenly stiffened. He would _never_ have imagined that his name would come up at the baths, never mind by women so much younger than him. Thinking about it he wasn't displeased with the fact that his name was brought up, but he _was_ irrationally displeased at the context. He was certainly not disinterested in women as Tenten had implied, he _did_ have a bit of a reputation among the women in the village when it came to the bedroom, though he had to admit that it had been a while since he had publicly spent some time with a woman in Konoha.

The shaggy brown haired man next elbowed him with a lecherous grin, while the Icha Icha author patted him on the back companionably – suddenly reminding him of _what_ the older man was actually doing at the hot spring, _peeping_. Not only was the old pervert peeping, but he was spying on _his_ former student and her friends.

His conscience kicked in, after being lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that they not seen anything that the kunoichis may willingly show while wearing their usual 'going out' clothes, and he tried to pull the two other men away from the chink in the wall.

"Come on you two, we shouldn't be here." He hissed when neither man seemed inclined to move.

The older white haired man waved his hand dismissively at the Copy Ninja without turning from the women in the water. "Go on then, have fun, you know where to find me in two days."

Kakashi paused as he realized just _what_ he had actually promised the perverted old man – he would not interfere in any way with his 'research' such as it was. Severely angry with himself he crouched down between the two men again, his mind working on a way to get them away from the potentially dangerous chink in the wall without disturbing the women currently soaking in the spring.

* * *

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Going by the rumors he hasn't been particularly interested in women for a while now, at least not in the village anyway," she amended her statement. "You never know what he does when he's out of the village on all those long term assignments… Regardless it's a damn shame," the blue eyed kunoichi sighed with genuine regret – surprising the medic.

"What?!" the pink haired kunoichi exclaimed, not quite able to hide her surprise. Ino had not too long ago admonished Sakura for her apparent poor taste in men when she had allowed Kakashi to step in and frighten away all potential nocturnal companions from her birthday party at the pub. She knew that Ino could be fickle, but couldn't see her making such a drastic change in her opinion of her silver haired former sensei, it just didn't seem to mesh with the Ino she knew.

The brunette weapons mistress sighed, "I was _so_ jealous of you when we first met and I found out who _your_ sensei was…"

Sakura tried not to laugh at the serious brown eyed woman's confession. If she had been in Tenten's place _she_ probably would have been jealous of just about _anyone_ else's sensei – but it was still strange to hear, especially thinking back on how irritated the man had made her over the years and even in her recent past with the 'anonymous' gifts that kept setting the gossip mill going.

"Oh come on Sakura, you _have_ to admit that your former sensei is hot, despite him being a pervert and… an older man." She paused as something only just occurred to her, "actually both those things _could_ be benefits instead of detriments… He must _really_ know what he's doing in the bedroom…" her eyes lit with a sudden interest at the unfinished thought.

Sakura laughed. "That's quite a one-eighty you've done Ino… Of course it has come _after_ I told you he was _younger_ than Genma… One of _your_ favorite bedtime buddies…"

* * *

To the silver haired man's inner disgust, his brown haired friend found himself on the receiving end of an enormous grin with an accompanying congratulatory pat on his back from the long haired author, no doubt for bedding the attractive blue eyed woman. He hadn't known that Genma had spent any time with Sakura's former rival and wondered just when _that_ had happened and why Genma hadn't bragged more about it.

Shaking his head his mind went to what the younger generation apparently thought of his personal life. He had no idea that they had thought to call his preferences into question considering his chosen reading material was strictly of the heterosexual nature – then again none of the four of them were likely to have actually cracked the cover of one of Jiraiya's books. Regardless he did have to admit to himself again that he hadn't spent the night with a woman in Konoha for a while; he hadn't really been granted the time or opportunity. All of his romantic encounters of late had occurred in other villages after the completion of or even as part of his missions.

The fact that Ino seemed to have ideas of her own about him didn't disturb him as much as he felt it should, though a small part of him really would have rather heard Sakura making the same musings. Firmly he took a hold of himself and banished the inappropriate thoughts from his mind chalking them up to the fact that he was spying on them while they were bathing with the most well known peeping tom in the shinobi world.

* * *

The blue eyed kunoichi grinned at her memories of the time she had spent with the lecherous senbon wielding man – he had definitely shown her a couple things she would not easily forget.

"Ah Genma, definitely a favorite… Without a doubt he lives up to his reputation and perhaps a little more, that's for sure…" she trailed off in thought before realizing that Sakura had effectively sidetracked her from the topic at hand. "But Genma's prowess in the bedroom is beside the point."

She waved her hand negligently as she changed the topic back to what she had been discussing before Sakura had distracted her. "Age isn't really the obstacle I thought it was and I guess he isn't as old as I had figured, it's the hair, the baggy clothes, and the fact that he keeps most of his face hidden you know? Kinda hard to tell _how_ old he is… Anyway in our profession, you're really only as old as you feel."

The pink haired medic shot her an unconvinced look, completely not believing that her friend could have had such an epiphany going on so little new information. There _had_ to be something she wasn't sharing.

The blonde woman giggled, "And, well… I happened to catch him the last time he was in the village after a spar with your boys on one of the water filled training grounds… and _damn,_ soaking wet and without his vest, that baggy shirt and his forehead protector…If only he didn't wear that undershirt with the attached mask…" She sat lost in her thoughts for a few moments before perking up to catch the pink haired women's eye. "So, what's he _really_ like under there?"

* * *

The current topic of discussion felt his face heat and redden as his blood turned cold. Part of him really wanted nothing to do with hearing his former student stuck in this particular conversation but another smaller part was very interested in hearing what she had to say. Cursing himself he found that he was once again unable to leave as his curiosity kept him glued in place.

Finding that he was unable to leave he settled himself down, knowing that as soon as the girls were gone he was _never_ going to live their comments down and Genma was going to be completely insufferable after the huge ego boost the beautiful blonde woman had given him.

* * *

Finally finding herself on firmer ground the medic shrugged. "How should _I_ know? _I've_ never seen his face…" She paused as something too embarrassing to even contemplate occurred to her. "Oh _kami_ I hope that's what you meant…" she flushed as the other girls laughed at her fleeting dirty thought.

Once the three women were able to control their mirth Ino grinned. "I _did_ mean his face… but if you have information on the _rest_ of him, I wouldn't be opposed to hearing it. He always wears those ultra baggy clothes; I've never seen the actual shape of him other than that one time... Really, now that I think of it, what _does_ he look like under all those layers?"

The pink haired woman blushed a deeper red and shook her head. "I'm _so_ _not_ going there."

"So you _have_ seen him then?" the brunette weapons mistress asked with interest.

"Er, no… I, I didn't say that…" the deeply blushing woman stammered trying to regain her mental foothold. This was _exactly_ why she avoided the public baths in Konoha.

"But you have seen _most_ of him, other than his face I guess, haven't you?" her blonde friend leaned closer to the pink haired medic in a clear display of interest. "You _are_ the only medic he'll let near him these days…"

"Er…" Sakura's mind just could not quite wrap itself around the absolute embarrassment of the conversation she had somehow managed to find herself in the middle of.

"Well come on then, does he have as hot of a body as we suspect or what?" the brunette pressed eagerly. She had always been fascinated with the shinobi who actually covered them selves up instead of leaving little to the imagination by sporting bright green spandex.

"Do you guys even know how _weird_ it is for me to be…_involved_ in this conversation?" she asked in clear distress at the situation.

"Oh come on Forehead!" the impatient woman snapped. "It's not like _you're_ interested in him or anything, right?" She eyed her former rival waiting for a confirmation.

Unable to find her voice, her eyes wide at the questions she had just been asked, she found herself slowly nodding – knowing that she couldn't possibly have a different answer for the question.

The blonde woman nodded, "So what's the problem then? Share the wealth!" She and the other two women laughed, missing the fact that Sakura didn't exactly join in with their mirth.

Thinking incredibly quickly the pink haired medic grasped at straws, "Sorry girls. That would be a violation of medic patient confidentiality."

After a moment of shocked silence the brunette woman splashed the medic irritably. "That's bull Sakura, you just don't want to share."

The medic sighed heavily. "Kakashi is a shinobi of the leaf and is built like one. That's all you need to know and that's all I'm going to say."

"Aw _Sakura_…" the blonde woman whined convinced that she definitely knew more than she was letting on.

Having had enough the medic rose from her seated position, to take her leave from the naturally heated water. "Use your imagination like every other kunoichi who's asked me the same thing about one of my boys…" Carefully she made her way from the pool to her towel, wrapped it around herself and entered the little changing house.

"S-Sakura! W-wait!" the timid Hyuga woman called as she hastily took her leave as well.

The two remaining women exchanged looks, sighed and followed the dark haired woman back into the little changing house. The brunette weapons mistress called out as she and the blonde exited the hot spring.

"We're sorry Sakura! We didn't mean to upset you!"

* * *

Kakashi watched as the pink haired woman rose, thankfully with her back to them, and made her way from the pool. She chose to take a different path in the spring to make her exit than she and the three other women had used to enter the pool. This portion of the spring was not nearly as deep. Once she had taken a couple steps the water receded until it only came to just below her waist, giving them a tantalizing view of her bare back, the curve of her slender waist and, as she moved her arms to run her fingers through her short hair, the very edges of the rounded curve of her breasts. Try as he might to prevent it the image was etched permanently into his memory and he was inwardly disgusted at the delight a small part of took from viewing his former student in such an inappropriate manner.

Once the four women were safely out of hearing range, none of them revealing more than the pink haired woman, the perverted sannin and senbon wielding man let out groans of frustration before turning on the still embarrassed and slightly surprised Copy Ninja.

"Quite a woman your former student has become, eh Kakashi?" The old man asked with clear amusement in his voice.

The dark eyed man wasn't sure if the white haired man was talking about Sakura's refusal to spill his personal details or the all too tempting tease of an eyeful she had unknowingly given them. Regardless he had to agree with Jiraiya, though he would never admit it out loud.


	10. Chapter Ten: Holiday

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I apologize for the tardiness of this chapter. I just could not make it work. I don't want to bias anyone against it, but I'm still not completely happy with the outcome. Chapter eleven will be posted a week from Saturday – I have sent it to my fantabulous beta (many, many, many thanks to FlameTwirler for helping me clean the mess that became this chapter up to something worth salvaging!!!) so I should be able to get it ready for posting next weekend. I will be leaving tomorrow for Anime Boston and will have no access to my computer after a quick E-Mail check (will not be up early enough to actually answer any though) tomorrow morning until late Sunday. I would like to assure anyone who may be impatient that chapter eleven is definitely worth the wait. ;)

* * *

Chapter Ten: Holiday

Lost in her own thoughts Sakura finished getting ready. Pausing at the mirror over her dresser to frown at her hair she pulled on the ribbon she had been using to keep her short tresses out of her eyes with a sigh of annoyance. She missed her forehead protector. Glancing down at the top of the dresser she smiled and picked up the combs Kakashi had given her and quickly slipped them into her hair. She had been finding more and more excuses to wear them when he wasn't around. Absently she wondered if it could possibly be because she actually missed the old man before shoving the thought aside as nonsense.

Her mind flickered back to her former sensei and she was surprised to find how annoyed she still was at her friends for having brought him up while in the hot spring earlier, though she _had_ forgiven them so they could spend the afternoon shopping in the village. Besides, when all was said and done she _did_ know what he looked like under the layers, aside from his mask of course, and had for _years_. Kakashi was exactly what she had said he was: a shinobi of leaf and he _looked_ like one – in other words well built and clearly well maintained with only a number of scars to tell the tale of his many years in service to the village. Yet for some strange reason she just didn't quite want to share that information. Inwardly she explained it away as just her desire to allow a private man to keep his privacy. Granted she _had_ on occasion gossiped about some of the _other_ male shinobi who had at some point or other needed her medical services and may have preferred that she protect _their_ privacy. Regardless she just didn't feel right talking about the silver haired jonin under such circumstances.

Absently she shook her head, resolving to figure it all out later, thinking that she had plenty of time before she actually saw the man again. Sakura gave her hair one last pat and made her way from the suite to meet her friends who were probably already waiting for her outside for their shopping expedition. As she entered the lobby of the resort she paused upon catching sight of a familiar figure limping ever so slightly as he entered the lobby from the other direction. Her eyes widened in shock; he would have been one of the _last_ people she would expect to see at the hot spring. He caught sight of her and nonchalantly changed his direction to make his way across the room to her before she could call out to or otherwise acknowledge him. For a moment she panicked before realizing that there was no way for the Copy Ninja to know what she and her friends had been talking about just a few short hours previous and catching hold of herself she firmly pushed the inappropriate thoughts from her mind.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the eyes of the woman at the front desk widen and her hand reach for the phone. Inwardly she had to grin, Kakashi was hardly attired as the kind of person the resort may like to have grace their lobby where he could all too easily scare some of the less adventurous guests away or offend some of the wealthier ones. He definitely did not appear to be the sort of person to associate socially with her _or_ her friends. They had decided on posing as four wealthy – reserving the private hot spring _was_ costly – daughters of somewhat shady but still classy and mostly aboveboard businessmen. Allowing the resort employees to believe that they probably came from high class families deep into organized crime pretty much ensured polite, courteous and above all _in_curious service from the staff and a wide berth from the other guests which was exactly what they wanted while on holiday.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked with confusion and surprise clear in her voice, though not loud enough to catch any one's attention in the spacious public area.

He smiled as he noticed she was wearing the hair combs he had given her and took her arm in his to steer her out of the reception area. Dumbly she complied, knowing he would tell her once they were in a more private place. Absently she figured he must be on a mission and didn't particularly want to blow whatever he was doing by talking to her out in plain sight, though what sort of mission could possibly bring him to the resort she couldn't even begin to imagine.

One of the male resort employees on duty hastily entered the lobby and quickly intercepted them before they could exit. He stopped the two shinobi by putting a firm hand on the pink haired woman's arm, causing them to turn back questioningly to him.

"Everything all right here?" he asked, eyeing the silver haired man suspiciously. It was clear in his stance, demeanor, and tone that he expected to hear that things were _not_ fine. The silver haired man as he appeared, slightly scruffy, travel weary, and obviously dangerous, apparently clashed with his conception of the sort of man who he would consider to be appropriate company for the younger pink haired woman. The resort employee of course had no idea that Sakura was also a shinobi and that he had just insulted her former sensei.

Quickly before the clearly irked man next to her could react unfavorably, she smiled at the concerned but misguided man. "Everything is fine." She gestured to her companion who chose that moment to pull her a little closer to him so he could drape the arm that had been holding hers across her shoulders and in the process remove the offending man's hand from her arm, "He is my f…"

The resort employee stepped back at her clear unconcern of the dodgy man's actions and cut her off before she could finish in hopes of salvaging the situation as quickly as possible. "_Oh!!_ He must be one of your _father's_ men! Of course, of course, we are more than happy to welcome your… er, um bodyguard? here at the resort… Er, shall I arrange a room for him close to yours? Perhaps a bath and a change of clothing as well?" he asked hopefully. If he was going to be stuck with such an unsavory appearing man in _his_ hotel, he would be darned if he wouldn't at least _try_ to get the man to dress appropriately.

She stifled a giggle at the waves of annoyance she could feel radiating from the usually stoic man. Hastily before the situation could get worse she smiled again at the clearly embarrassed employee. "Actually he's my _friend_. I suspect he will be staying for at least a little while, though I don't know just how long. I will be sure to let you know if we should need additional accommodations." She paused hoping she had managed to convince the poor man to leave Kakashi alone. "Please, excuse us."

Once the man had backed off a little she started forward, pulling the inwardly irritated jonin along with her. Once they were out of sight and on their way to her suite the pink haired woman giggled at the grumpy man, her giggles turning into outright laughter when he shot her a dirty look.

Once she was able to control her mirth she grinned up at him. "You're in rare form today." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering what had gotten into the usually unemotional man. She could understand his aggravation at the suspicious hotel employee's assumption, but the medic _wasn't_ sure why he had felt the need to make it clear to the man that he wasn't her bodyguard. In times past when the mistake had been made due to the difference in age and because he _appeared _to be a much more skilled shinobi than she, he usually went with it rather than take the time to make the correction. A very small part of her was irrationally pleased at his irritation.

He declined to comment and continued on with her to her hotel suite, his limp becoming even more apparent to her at their close proximity. As they walked he seemed to almost inadvertently lean a little more and more on her shoulder – for support she could only guess – as his limp steadily became worse. She wondered what sort of an injury he had this time since he seemed to be using her as a crutch which was unusual for him, though not the first time he had done it.

Upon reaching and entering the girls' suite she turned to him with an eyebrow raised as his arm dropped almost hastily from her shoulders.

"Okay, _what_ on earth are you doing here?" she looked at him, taking in the plain, but still clearly shinobi clothes minus his forehead protector, a band of leather having been substituted for the telling accessory. "Scratch that, I can see that you're on a mission and probably can't tell me…"

He nodded. "Genma and I are just passing through and will be leaving in a day or two. Genma stopped to chat with your friends outside, they'll probably be coming back in before long."

She sighed, knowing that with the two jonin around she would probably get little peace from either her friends or the lecherous senbon wielding man, especially taking into consideration the all too embarrassing conversation that had occurred a scant few hours previous. Though, as she thought about it, her blonde friend had been quite happily reminiscing about her time spent with Genma. If circumstances were right it was entirely possible _Ino_ may end up in bed with him again distracting the blonde from inquiring into her love life _and_ the shaggy brown haired man from trying to maneuver _her_ into bed with him. With the ringleader so to speak distracted she figured the remaining girls, with their own crushes back in the village, would leave her former sensei alone and things could possibly go fairly smoothly for her even with the two sought-after men around.

"Come on then. Since you're here I might as well heal whatever it is that ails you…" She looked him up and down quickly, looking for obvious signs of injury other than his uneven gait. "That's one nasty limp you seem to have picked up…"

He opened his mouth to say nothing was wrong, knowing full well he was injured, but not wanting to give in to her so easily. Before he could vocalize his thoughts she beat him to it.

"And don't even think to tell me that you're _not_ injured. I know you too well not to know when you're in pain. Now…" she trailed off realizing that she was in the main area of the suite and anyone could just walk in on them. Thinking a little about it told her it would be worse if someone were to walk in on the two of them in her room. Regardless she found herself irrationally displeased with the prospect of her friends possibly learning something she already knew about her silver haired boy, especially since she had made such a fuss about it earlier that day in the hot spring – under all those layers, he was _very_ _much_ the physically attractive man they were convinced he could be. Shaking her head to clear the faint blush that had formed on her cheeks, and missing the amused grin from her silver haired companion as he correctly guessed what she was thinking, she gestured for him to take a seat on the coffee table rather than the couch hoping it would somehow seem more professional if her friends were to return while she was healing him. "You know the drill, take a seat and I'll fix whatever's wrong."

He sighed and eased himself down to sit on the low coffee table, knowing he could use her help. Inwardly he was pleased that he had chosen to wear one of his undershirts she had already split into two garments, mask and shirt. He shrugged his vest off and managed to pull both his shirts up and over his head keeping his mask in place exposing a patchwork of angry bruises before leaning over to remove one of his sandals, unwrapped and rolled up his pant leg revealing a grossly swollen ankle. She hissed in sympathy at the clearly painful injury.

"Geeze Kakashi, how did _you_ manage _that_?!" she asked unable to keep the incredulity from her voice. The older man was a lot of things but he was neither clumsy nor inattentive, this sort of injury had no place on him.

He shrugged noncommittally, not wanting to talk about his moment of supreme inattention that had managed to damage both his ribs and his ankle, especially since it had been at least partially the fault of one of his favorite little orange covered books and an off color comment made by the author of said little orange book about a particular pink haired medic.

She frowned. "What, was it something phenomenally stupid?" she asked trying to elicit some sort of a response from the quiet but still painfully injured man. Inwardly she didn't think someone such as her former sensei could be capable of doing something phenomenally stupid, he was just too smart for it. He was a master of control and even a sort of grace when fighting. Hastily she pushed such thoughts from her mind, realizing that the all too disconcerting discussion earlier had done more than just embarrass her. It had wedged open a door she had always kept firmly closed in her mind just enough for her to find the thoughts she usually kept locked away to slip to the forefront of her mind at odd and inappropriate moments.

She waited for an acknowledgement, but all he seemed inclined to grant her was a flat, disinterested glare.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, guessing he was probably irritable because of the pain from his injuries. "Let me guess, you were walking along minding your own business, with your nose firmly buried in one of your prized little orange books, when out of nowhere a rock burst through the ground and tripped you?" She laughed at the ridiculousness of his continued refusal to tell her what had happened. "Well regardless, I'll tend your ribs first and then sort out your ankle. I should think that despite appearances they may be more uncomfortable than your ankle at the moment…"

She knelt down on the floor before him and gently ran her hand over the ugly bruising, realizing not for the first time that though he appeared to be outwardly lazy his well defined chest and abdomen told another story. Upon checking the damage she was pleased to see that he had only cracked a couple ribs. As quickly as she could she mended the cracks, making sure to strengthen his ribs as much as she could before healing the ugly bruises. Once she was done she leaned back and handed him his shirts. Almost absently he pulled the undershirt on, leaving the baggy over shirt off for the time being. Irrationally she found herself pleased with the fact that he was now at least semi clad so that when her friends did stumble upon them, they wouldn't get much more of a look than Ino had back in the village. For some strange reason she found that she didn't particularly want to share him with her female friends. It never occurred to her that she may have been incredibly lucky up to that point that none of them _had_ developed an interest in her former sensei.

As focused on her work as she was, she missed the slight smirk of amusement her patient sported after he had donned the form fitting undershirt. He would never have thought that his former student may have been so determined to protect his sense of privacy, if he didn't know any better he might have thought that she didn't want to 'share' him with her friends. It was vaguely troubling that he _didn't_ particularly find it to be a troubling thought to ponder.

Once he was settled again she lifted his leg a little to get a better look, making sure to support his ankle as best she could without causing him more pain. She winced a bit in sympathy and as gently as she could ran her hand over the worst of the swelling. With a sharp intake of breath she glanced up at the silent man in surprise, feeling her cheeks tint a little upon finding him watching her intently.

"Kakashi! How the _hell_ did you manage to walk on _this_?" she exclaimed with clear displeasure mixed with concern. "You've just about _broken_ it!!"

He shrugged. "Pakkun said he had located someone who could heal it not too far from where we were… So we just sort of came here. Genma helped me get here, but I couldn't come into the resort obviously needing medical attention, I might have been forced to get some from a concerned citizen. Not exactly part of the plan for the mission…"

She continued to look at him incredulously for a moment before shaking her head and sighing. "What am I going to do with you Kakashi?" a slight smile hovered on her lips belying her words. Without waiting for a response she focused her attention and energy on mending his ankle in hopes he wouldn't notice the hint of amusement she found in his situation.

Before he could ask what she meant by her comment they were interrupted as the main door to the suite opened and the pink haired medic's three friends entered with his partner in tow. As nonchalantly as he could he pulled his baggy jonin shirt over his head – knowing that the action probably frustrated the blonde woman currently trying to get a good look at him to no end.

Sakura heard them enter but chose not to acknowledge their presence, focusing instead on finishing her task at hand, though a small part of her was inordinately pleased to sense her patient pull his other shirt on as the girls entered. Once she had finished mending the Copy Ninja's ankle she quickly scanned the rest of him, making sure she had gotten everything before letting him go.

"All set Kakashi," she smiled up at him as she patted his ankle absently. "If your mission allows it, I would prescribe a good long soak in one of the hot springs before you leave," she glanced at her friends for a moment before continuing looking for some sort of confirmation.

"Fine with me," the brunette weapons mistress shrugged.

"I-I'm okay with it too," the shy woman agreed.

"Be my guest," the blonde woman grinned at the two men almost predatorily. The pink haired medic had no trouble guessing what was on _her_ mind and almost felt bad for the lecherous shaggy brown haired man.

"Well that settles it then. You can use the private one – we've reserved it for our exclusive use while we're here and I think we're done for the time being… Probably won't be looking to use it until after dinner at the earliest…"

He smiled and ruffled her hair, knowing she hated it whenever he did, but enjoying it and her faint blush nonetheless. "Thanks Sakura, it feels as good as new. That soak also sounds like a very good idea. You ladies going to let us crash here too while you're feeling so hospitable?" Their expenses were covered to an extent by Jiraiya's publishers, but he had a feeling that they wouldn't spring to reimburse them for a stay at such a fancy resort. Or rather he rationalized his desire to stay with the kunoichi by assuming the publishers wouldn't pay for their stay at the hot spring.

She batted his hand away from her hair playfully, noticing that he had carefully avoided pulling out her hair combs. "Kakashi!"

He laughed and rose to his feet, offering her a hand up, which she took. She was surprised to find herself actually being pulled to her feet rather than just being allowed to use his hand as leverage for her to stand on her own. Faintly confused the medic found herself momentarily pulled up against him before catching her balance once on her feet.

Hurriedly controlling an embarrassing blush she smiled at him. "Yes, yes, might as well. You two can have my room. I'll bunk with Hinata or Tenten." She glanced at her friends again noting that both women were nodding their agreement. Sakura had no intention of even _trying_ to bunk with her former rival since she figured the senbon wielding man would probably find himself invited into the bold woman's room sometime during the night.

The green eyed woman turned from her patient to actually greet her friends. Her eyes settled on the shaggy brown haired man and she sighed inwardly as she realized she should out of fairness check him out as well.

"Nice to see you Genma, are you also in need of my services?"

The lecherous man grinned. "Well now that depends on just what _sort_ of services you may be offering…" he was cut off by a quick slap upside the back of his head by the clearly unimpressed blonde woman at his side.

Sakura shook her head, realizing she had set herself up for that one. "_Medical_ services Genma, _medical_…"

He sighed dramatically and moved away from the women standing in the doorway. "Well now that you mention it I've got this little bit of tightness…" As he walked and talked, to the complete astonishment of the female occupants of the room and faint amusement quickly turning to disgust from the other male, he shed his sandals, vest and shirt with his hands heading toward the draw string of his pants. "Right here in my…" he was cut off suddenly by an arm around his neck belonging to the dark eyed man before the girls could think to react to the entertaining, if nothing else, strip tease they were being granted. The arm he had been moving to gesture to his 'afflicted' area froze before it could gesture to any _particular_ part of his anatomy, though by his actions and general personality just where he was going to gesture was abundantly clear.

The silver haired man had his partner in a deceptively friendly headlock. "He's fine Sakura, nothing a nice long soak won't take care of… Which is your room? We'll leave our stuff and head outside and out of your hair for the afternoon."

Still a little wide eyed she pointed to her room and watched as the younger man dragged the letch from the common area of the suite, paying his weak almost inaudible protests no heed.

* * *

Happily the four women chatted amongst themselves as they made their way back into their suite. They had just had a fantastic dinner in the resort's main restaurant and had thought that a nice soak seemed to be the best most relaxing way to end their day.

The shy Hyuga woman, who had been in front, stopped abruptly, causing the other three women to hastily stop in order to avoid trampling the poor woman.

"Hey Hinata! What gives?" the occasionally loud blonde woman asked as she brushed past the motionless woman only to stop herself.

"What is it?" the brunette weapons mistress asked as she impatiently pushed through as well. "_Kami_," she almost whispered.

Having a feeling that she may know what had stopped her friends in their tracks the pink haired woman stepped into the room, finding her assumption to be correct. All three women were gazing out the large sliding glass doors that exited directly onto the path to the private hot spring. On the path were their two male visitors clad only in towels loosely fastened around their waists and a much smaller one around the silver haired man's lower face.

Inwardly her stomach sank as all the fancy footwork she had done earlier to prevent her friends from elevating her former sensei from not particularly interesting pervert to object worthy of pursuit had just been rendered moot. As she watched the two men casually make their way back to the suite she felt the briefest little tug of irrational jealousy before she was able to dismiss it as just a student not wanting to share her teacher with others.

* * *

The Copy Ninja sighed as he and his friend exited the hot water, each grabbing their towel to wrap around their waists as they made their way back into the private suite. They had soaked for quite a while, neither of them having had the opportunity to make use of a hot spring for a good couple months. Being men without any particular hang-ups about their bodies they had forgone the use of the little changing house, finding it easier to wrap towels around themselves in Sakura's room and head directly to the spring.

About halfway down the path back toward the suite they saw the light turn on. The dark eyed man inwardly frowned as his companion let out a low chuckle of complete enjoyment at suddenly finding himself in his element. One by one they girls appeared in the doorway and froze, Sakura entering last. If he wasn't so inwardly determined to keep his amusement to himself the Copy Ninja might have laughed at her reaction – large sigh of annoyance followed by resting her forehead in her hand as a sign of her lack of patience for the situation – though between her fingers he could make out the flush of clear embarrassment.

Calmly he continued along with his friend, not particularly worried about it, but still justifying it away as only fair since he and the brown haired man _had_ caught them in a similar state without their knowledge.

"Evening ladies," the younger man smiled at the still somewhat awestruck and blushing women standing in the doorway. "Just on our way to getting dressed, please excuse us." Their expressions were too priceless and he found himself to giving in, not bothering to hide the amusement from his voice. Even _Ino_ seemed to be at a complete loss of words, which was almost unheard of for the bold blonde woman.

"Good to see that a couple old timers like us haven't lost it when it comes to the ladies eh Kakashi?" The lecherous man smirked with clear pleasure as he started toward the four surprised women. He was stopped abruptly by his younger friend.

"Clothes _first_ Genma, _then_ you can flirt as much as you like." He grabbed his friend's arm to drag him bodily from the room, chuckling as they made their exit.

* * *

As soon as the partially clad men had made their way from the room the three women converged on the pink haired woman.

"I can't _believe_ you!" her blonde friend exclaimed. "You've been sitting on _that_ all these years?"

The pink haired medic sighed, knowing defeat when she felt it though still determined to put up something of a fight. "I don't know what you mean."

"Sakura, your former sensei _is_ hot!" the brunette weapons mistress turned to her green eyed friend. "_Damn_, why didn't you tell us?"

The medic shook her head. "Kakashi is Kakashi… He's built like any number of other shinobi…" All of whom were _also_ extremely attractive, she mentally added to herself. "Besides he's my former _sensei_…" she tried feeling as though she were grasping at straws.

The three women looked at her in askance, unable to understand how she couldn't see the qualities they could in her former sensei. After a few moments of incredulous silence the three exchanged glances, deciding that if she couldn't see what they could so clearly, she probably wouldn't so long as she kept thinking of him as her former sensei.

Inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief as the three other women made themselves comfortable while chatting quietly together about what they had just seen, having given up for the time being in getting Sakura to join them in evaluating the physical attributes of the generally elusive Copy Ninja.

* * *

The four women took their seats in one of the larger booths in the somewhat dingy diner, not the first place any of them would have chosen from its appearance. However, it had been so highly recommended by the concierge at their resort for having the absolute _best_ breakfast, they had shrugged and decided to give it a try.

"So Sakura, are you going to tell us any more about this mystery man of yours?" her blonde friend asked as she reached for the sugar for her coffee.

The pink haired medic's head shot up in surprise. "Huh?"

The three other women exchanged glances; apparently the medic didn't realize the karaoke they had sung the evening before seemed to confirm their suspicions that she had a new man in her life. Granted they _had_ thought he might be her secret admirer before arriving at the hot spring but going by her music selection, once she had a couple drinks in her, her feelings were unrequited, leading them to believe it was someone other than her secret admirer.

Before leaving Konoha the three had gotten together to discuss the medic's recent strange behavior. The most notable change in her behavior they had found was that she had stopped dressing up and going out obviously looking for a man. This had concerned her friends as they knew how discouraging dating could be when your teammates intimidated or beat the shit out of any man they got close to. Though their teammate's behavior had not discouraged the three of _them_, _the__ir_ male counterparts had not quite gone to the same extent that Naruto and Sasuke did in their 'protective' watch over their kunoichi's love lives and to be quite honest the other girls' teammates weren't _quite_ as scary or intimidating as Sakura's since they had never actually seriously injured anyone whereas Naruto and Sasuke routinely sent people to the hospital for as little as speaking to Sakura without what they considered to be a valid reason.

"C'mon Sakura!" the brown eyed woman cajoled, "we aren't stupid! Clearly there's _someone_ you're pining over…"

The usually shy Hyuga woman spoke up, "W-we promise not to let N-Naruto and Sasuke know…"

The confused medic shook her head. "What on _earth_ are you three talking about? I thought I already told you I don't know who my secret admirer is…"

"Oh no, not _him_… The _other_ man in your life…" her blonde friend eyed her suspiciously.

"I'm sorry I really have no idea what you're talking about…" she was interrupted by the entrance of perhaps the second to last pair of men she would like to see while having this particular conversation, the first being of course Naruto and Sasuke, but Kakashi and Genma followed as a close second.

Inwardly she sighed as they spotted the four girls and made their way over to the almost full table. Before the two men reached the booth the four kunoichi had already scooted over to make room for them.

Casually the silver haired man seated himself next to the currently annoyed medic while his shaggy brown haired companion slid next to the blonde woman he had undoubtedly spent the night with. Both men ignored the glares they received from several of the male occupants at the diner who had been eyeing the table full of apparently single women.

"So what are we talking about?" the senbon wielding shinobi asked as he not so subtlety slipped his arm around the woman next to him.

"Sakura's new man," the brown eyed brunette answered as she poured herself another cup of coffee from the communal pot.

"I-I do _not_…" the green eyed woman started before being interrupted.

The lecherous man raised an eyebrow, "Her secret admirer?"

The woman next to him waved her hand dismissively, "No, not him. She won't talk about him anyway. Now we're trying to wheedle the identity of the man she was singing about last night…"

The pink haired woman felt her face heat even more as she realized the song selections she had made after having a couple drinks could possibly have led her friends to believe she was indeed interested in someone. Unfortunately she had just selected the same songs she had when she was younger… and completely head over heels for the ever unattainable Uchiha.

"Oh! Oh _that_!" the medic exclaimed, still clearly flustered, but slowly recovering as she realized why her friends had decided she must have someone she was admiring from afar. "_That_ was just an old habit."

"Y-you singing all those songs of unrequited l-love was habit?" The shy dark haired woman inquired felt a little confused but as she thought back to their younger days she _did_ remember Sakura quite often singing the same songs as she had the previous evening.

Sakura scratched the back of her neck apologetically, "I haven't sung karaoke in _ages_… Guess when I picked songs I just picked the same ones I always _used_ to sing without really thinking too much about it…" Honestly she couldn't really say that it was a fib as she was fairly certain that she had just chosen the familiar songs she had sung when she was younger, though a small part of her wondered.

Her blonde friend eyed her dubiously, "I don't know Sakura… I still think you've got a thing for someone… Why else would you have stopped trolling for men?"

"Hmm… I don't know… Guess I just haven't been interested lately, that's all." She shrugged, hoping her friends would buy her partial truth.

The blonde's eyes sparkled, "Well then why don't you forget your unattainable man and let _us_ find you some one who could get you interested?"

"Oh, no, no _seriously_ no. Not me. Perfectly happy single… Unlike _some_ people, I don't _have_ to have a man in my life to make it worth living."

"I think the lady doth protest too much," the brunette weapons mistress murmured as she sipped her cup of coffee and eyed her pink haired friend speculatively.

Almost desperate enough to ask her former teacher, who currently had his nose buried in one of his ever present orange books, to corroborate her story she mentally flailed about looking for _some_ sort of argument to get her friends to let the subject drop. She knew from experience that this sort of conversation just could not end well.

"_Really_, I'm fine…" She desperately searched for something to discourage her friends. "I-I have my secret admirer remember?" she tried, having a feeling that regardless of what she said her friends would go through with their plans of setting her up with some poor unfortunate sap.

As she spoke she missed the amused but faintly calculating sidelong glance from the man sitting beside her.

"Yeah, yeah… You're not interested in _him_ though…" The brown eyed woman waved her absently as she thought, "It has to be someone who either is not interested or too inhibited to ever do anything about being interested otherwise you wouldn't be pining over him…"

"I-I wonder about that really shy guy… y-you know the one…" the timid woman suggested surprising everyone at her observation and momentarily forgetting the name of the man she had seen watching Sakura from afar for quite some time. "Might he be the guy she is after?"

"Which one was that Hinata?" the shaggy brown haired asked with some interest, noticing that his mission partner seemed to have become just the slightest bit more alert. "There seem to have been several…" he let the statement hang wondering a little about his friend's sudden interest in their conversation.

Sakura's face, which had started to revert to a normal color returned to its flushed status. Surprise and complete embarrassment prevented her from opening her mouth to stop the train-wreck the conversation had quickly become. She suspected she knew just who Hinata was talking about, and absolutely _nothing_ could be further than the truth. The man made her feel positively uneasy in his presence. He may have feelings for her, but she was positive she would never return them.

"Th-the shy man with glasses we see occasionally hanging around the hospital and all the time at Sakura's apartment building… Y-you know the one…" she trailed off unable to remember the fairly unremarkable man's name. "I-I don't think he would quite be able to work up the courage to ask Sakura out…"

The blonde's eyes widened, "Oh! That's right! Hideki!" She turned to her former rival. "Are you pining over that bespectacled landlord of yours? It's obvious _he's_ got the hots for you, but _is_ way too timid to ever do anything about it."

"Oh it's so obvious now!" the brunette weapons mistress exclaimed, remembering the price break on rent Sakura was given for 'being a medic,' since it was apparently desirable to have someone in the building with medical skills. Granted the other _male_ medic in the building hadn't been given the same discount and he had been living there _longer_ than Sakura. There was also the fact that she had somehow managed to secure one of the very few apartments with a balcony and that he put up with the complaints about her friends showing up at all hours, occasionally loud and disruptive to the other tenants. When she stopped to really look at it, it was quite obvious that the pink haired medic's landlord _did_ have something of a crush on her.

"Oh Sakura! You should have told us!" her blonde friend eyed her eagerly, "He's not to my taste, but I suppose he seems nice enough…"

"I'm, I'm _not_…" the green eyed woman tried to interrupt her friend's growing excited chatter, chagrined upon finding her friends not particularly willing to listen to her once they had decided that she was yearning for her landlord.

"We could, you know try to work something out for you two if you like…" the brown haired weapons mistress suggested helpfully – ignoring the fact that Sakura was doing her best to convince her friends not to try and 'help' her.

"_No_!" She took a deep breath to calm the flush that worked its way across her face as all occupants sat up a little straighter and actually paid complete attention to what she was saying for once. "Uh, no, no thank you. I'm single and would like to stay that way. To set the record straight once and for all I'm _not_ _pining_ for anyone. Now can we just order please? Our server has been around three times already and I'm sure she's tired of waiting…"

* * *

Inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief. Finally she was home. She had had a wonderful time at the hot spring, but was nevertheless still glad to be back. Quickly she made a detour to her mailbox to collect her mail, making sure to avoid her now doubly creepy land lord after her friend's all too eager ideas of setting her up with him returned to her mind, before heading up to her apartment. The teasing about Hideki had not stopped once the two jonin had taken their leave of the girls after eating with them the morning in question. It had continued for the next several days while they were enjoying themselves at the resort and now he was very much the _last_ person she wanted to see.

Once she had unpacked and started a load of laundry she settled herself at her kitchen table with her stack of mail and a nice pot of tea, noticing she seemed to have collected quite bit while she was away. As she sorted through her heart almost stopped. She blinked in surprise at the plain white envelope addressed to her in curious block lettering and without a return address. Dropping the remaining stack of mail she carefully opened the mysterious envelope, almost afraid of what she would find.

Carefully she pulled a Polaroid from the envelope and a quick check assured her there was nothing else inside. Dread forming a knot in her stomach she held the photograph up to examine it. Sure enough it was of her dream guardian; this time he was propped up in front of an absolutely gorgeous garden in full bloom. She squinted at it looking for some sort of identifying feature: though the garden was lovely, she hadn't the least idea as to _where_ it was. It _could_ be in Konoha, part of a private residence or one of the old family clan complexes or even one of the lesser known public parks, but then again it _could_ just as easily be somewhere in the Land of Water or Rain or any number of the other countries.

Once she had firmly established that she had no clue as to where her dream guardian was, she turned the picture over.

'Sakura

Am having a great time traveling! Should have done this a long time ago. Saw this garden and thought of you.

Yours,

Kakashi'


	11. Chapter Eleven: Favor

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I am sorry for the delay in this chapter – though I did mention in my last author's note that it probably wouldn't be posted until today. Many thanks for FlameTwirler! As usual you have done a wonderful job in making a silk purse out of a sow's ear (how's that for an old rarely used saying?)

Now for the 'bad' news – I will probably be falling back on updating every other week for two and a half months or so depending on a lot of things. My beta will be away from her computer for five weeks and I don't know how much she will be able to get through before she goes (or if she will be willing to try and plow through several chapters at once) and I'm not willing to post unbetaed chapters as my writing quality would probably be flushed down the toilet without her help. I'm also probably adding yet another unanticipated chapter that will fall into the time period of while she is away and to do that I'll need more than my usual week to do so especially since it seems like it will be a bit more complicated than the other chapters I've added on the fly.

Okay I have given the bad news and now maybe the good? This chapter has crack written all over it – granted this version has been toned down quite a bit to fit into this fic. I originally wrote it after getting bitten by a rabid plot bunny and intended to post it as a one shot because I was certain it couldn't fit into Simple Things. After reworking certain bits of it, toning it down, much encouragement from my wonderful beta FlameTwirler and some encouragement from an artist friend you will find the results below. :) The crack has now been relegated to elements only instead of pure all encompassing crack so I hope it works and is worth the wait. ;p

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Favor

Sakura stretched languidly as she yawned and slowly got out of bed. She had been up late the evening before making sure her silver haired boy was okay upon his return from a brief mission to the Land of Rain.

She grinned at his apparent guilt for returning at what he had obviously thought of as an inopportune moment for her. Though his assumption couldn't have been further from the truth, secretly she had fervently thanked him for providing her with an excuse to escape the stuffy uncomfortable event. The note summoning her to him had found her at a formal awards dinner she had really not wanted to attend in the first place. Unfortunately it was part of a deal she had made and she was stuck as the arm ornament for the number one pervert of Konoha at of all things a _literary_ awards dinner. What _he_ was doing attending such a prestigious event she would never know, and didn't want to ask.

He had said that he needed an escort and that he promised he wouldn't try anything inappropriate if she agreed. Of course he had already attempted to persuade Tsunade, resulting in a Jiraiya shaped hole next to the window in her office. The only thing preventing her from adding a Jiraiya shaped hole to _her_ office was the fact that the perverted old man had something she wanted.

The sannin had been in luck. Since they both had something the other wanted an exchange had been worked out. She hadn't been particularly thrilled to agree, especially when on the day of the event a large box had been delivered to her apartment with the formal attire he was expecting her to wear right down to her undergarments – unfortunately she could rather easily guess how he knew her sizes – and strappy sandals. On the hanger the article of clothing seemed to be a modest enough sheath dress, the design inspired by a modern take on Chinese formal attire. It was her signature shade of red with white and silver embroidery, had short sleeves and was long enough to cover her from her neck to nearly her ankles. Off the hanger she found that it clung to her in ways that left very little to the imagination despite its apparent modest cut, and it made slow movements difficult and quick movements impossible. All in all it was a very restrictive and overly embellished garment, but nothing she couldn't handle.

As she donned the dress and the matching strappy heeled sandals – flat out refusing his choice in undergarments – she absently hoped that he wasn't dressing her like one of the characters from his books. She honestly couldn't imagine that he would quite have the audacity but he was so very well known for his lecherous nature. She could easily see him sending it to her just on the off chance that she would wear it though after a little thought she quickly dismissed it, figuring even _he_ wouldn't be perverted enough to dress his escort as one of his creations, at least she sincerely hoped he wouldn't stoop quite that low.

The event itself was unexpectedly boring, still it was more than uncomfortable for her not only being the escort to the king of perverts but also wearing the all too restrictive dress. The dress had seriously limited her movements since she was unable to move in any manner other than an extremely slow leisurely stroll. When she _did_ need to move at a faster rate she generally did so with the needed the support of the sannin's arm, which though embarrassing, was convenient since she spent the greater portion of the evening hanging off of it. Thinking back on it she wondered if he had chosen the dress for its restrictive nature – to ensure she stayed close to him for the duration of the event and that she would, for her own comfort, accept his arm when he offered it to her instead of refuse such a generally dangerous offer from the legendary letch. Surprisingly enough he had managed to keep his hands _mostly_ to himself for the greater portion of the evening. Although he _had_ flirted with her outrageously, he hadn't really expected her to reciprocate which was a relief. He probably knew that her busty medic mentor would do more than just create a Jiraiya shaped hole in the nearest wall if she heard he had been _seriously_ hitting on her student.

When one of the jonin usually assigned to gate duty made a discrete entrance she had heaved an inner sigh of relief. Apologetically she asked the perverted Icha Icha author if she could take her leave of him to attend to one of her patients who had just returned to the village from a mission. She _didn't_ tell him that to all outward appearances the jonin in question probably did not need much if any medical treatment, that would have ruined her chance to escape. The older shinobi had been surprisingly understanding and allowed her to go with only a half hearted grope as she left his table to show his disappointment.

It spite of her leaving immediately from the formal hall, and the fact that it was only several blocks from her former sensei's apartment, it had taken her _ages_ to get there. She had managed to hike the skirt of the dress up a little, but not enough to make moving much easier. During her long walk she seriously resolved, that if she could help it, she would _never_ to make such a compromise of her range of motion for fashion again.

Thinking back on it she remembered thinking that the legendarily perverted man had actually looked partially pleased for a moment before she had left him. Inwardly she groaned as she realized he had known the whole time just _who_ she was going to treat and probably had a good long laugh about it once she was gone. Paying a certain white haired sannin a visit suddenly shot to the top of her to do list for after her shift at the hospital. He had a _lot_ of explaining to do.

* * *

Absently, Kakashi made his way to the memorial as was his usual routine upon returning from a mission. Though unlike his usual routine, he had made a quick detour before assuming his usual route. Because he had returned late the previous evening he had allowed himself to sleep in a bit later than usual and now he was in sore need of the peace and meditation he could count on finding at the memorial. Unless it was dire, no one would bother him there, a fact for which he was eternally thankful, especially when he had as much to think about as he did that morning.

The mission he had just returned from had been a straightforward escort mission, taking a high ranking diplomat back to his home in the Land of Rain. Though simple it had not been without incident and they were ambushed just outside the client's village. The thugs who had been hired for the ambush had been of the local 'bark-is-worse-than-their–bite' variety and nothing he couldn't easily handle, so how he had let one past his guard and get in a lucky swipe across his shoulder with some sort of multi-bladed weapon he couldn't say. The resulting wounds were not very long, wide or deep, but it was an injury nonetheless.

Upon returning to his apartment he stripped down to his baggy blue pants, form fitting blue sleeveless undershirt, the bandages his client's family had pressed upon him, and of course his mask, and put a kettle on for tea. He knew she would be pulled from whatever it was that she did late in the evening to come attend to him and figured that the least he could do would be to offer her a cup of tea for her trouble before she left, especially since he didn't really need for her to come. Unfortunately there was to be no talking the jonin on gate duty out of going off to find and notify her of his return.

After adding the tea to the heated water to steep he was surprised to still not have heard her distinctive knock on his door. He had been beginning to wonder what might have happened to her, a little concern leaking into his thoughts of the pink haired medic. She was usually quite prompt in her appointments and in her little house calls and he had inwardly been happy that his habitual tardiness had not worn off on his favorite former student.

As the minutes ticked by he wondered if perhaps she wasn't coming. Tsunade had warned him that eventually she would no longer have as much time for her former team as she once had and that there would come a time when she would no longer be able to perform house calls for him. The thought that she may not be coming had bothered him more than he would have figured since he had never really _wanted_ for her to come to him after missions to check up on his health in the first place. When he had finally heard the knock, even though he didn't particularly need her, he found he was more relieved and even faintly pleased than he would ever have thought that she had indeed come.

When he did finally hear her distinctive knock on the door he hastily made his way to the door with an unwanted sigh of relief. The thought that the dynamics of their relationship, whatever they may be, might have changed while he was away had troubled him more than he would ever have liked to admit. He quickly opened the door expecting her to be either in her usual medic attire or something hastily thrown on. Given how long it had taken her to appear at his door, he had figured the most likely scenario was that she had probably been pulled from bed to come attend to him. He was _not_ expecting to see her dressed in formal evening wear, and _definitely_ _not_ in a replica of one of his favorite characters from the Icha Icha series' signature seduction outfit. Her hair and eye color were wrong, she had styled her hair differently – irrationally he was pleased to note with the combs he had given her – and her curves were much more realistic than those of the character… but the effect was still just as compelling. She was perhaps even more potent than the illustrations from the dirty novel since she was _real_ and standing outside his apartment waiting for him to let her in.

Once again he was thankful for his mask as it hid his most immediate physical reaction quite well. She had just proven to him that paper Icha Icha could in no way stand up to the real thing. Inwardly he mused that if the book version had been able affect him to the same extent as the woman standing in front of him, he would be unable to either read it in public or as often as he did for fear of dying or going comatose (and thus having to explain to her _why_ he was comatose) from the slow but steady blood loss.

She slowly brushed past him on her way to his kitchen apparently without noticing his reaction, for which he was eternally grateful. Surprisingly enough she didn't seem in the least bit perturbed that his return had clearly disturbed something either important or extremely personal. Judging by her dress he figured it was the latter. As he watched her walk away he absently noted the reason why it had taken her longer than usual to show up on his doorstep – yet another thing that he tried very hard not to notice.

Hastily he followed her, taking a moment before actually entering his kitchen to compose himself and wipe the thin trickle of blood from his nose out of her sight. Inwardly he realized that he could no longer claim that she had never elicited such a clear and inappropriate physical reaction from him, even after catching such a tempting tease of an eyeful at the hot spring. Unhappily he realized that he would have to be much more careful in the future as he suddenly found himself on a precarious and undoubtedly slippery slope, one he had no intention of exploring any further.

She _couldn't_ know what she was wearing. If she had known what it was she would have _never_ worn it to treat as great an Icha Icha fan as himself. Instead he imagined her current boyfriend must have asked her to wear it as some sort of bedroom role-play or something of that particular nature. Though, he couldn't figure why she would have worn it _outside_ of the bedroom if that was the case, never mind to treat _him_. He started upon hearing her clear her throat and guiltily dragged his eyes to meet hers.

Quickly he searched for something to say and settled on the obvious. "You look nice Sakura, I hope you weren't called away from something important…" he paused, having only a little trouble stringing words together to form sentences. The longer he stared the more he seemed to become acclimated to her attire; he wasn't an elite for nothing. "Er, especially since I'm really not in urgent need of your services."

He was surprised and slightly confused to see the blush creep across her face at his compliment. Clearly he figured that had to settle the matter. She had to have _no_ idea what she was wearing, _or_ how well she wore it. If she had, she would probably have smacked him hard for his compliment figuring he was having perverted thoughts about her, which he _was_, but he would never let _her_ know that.

"Thank you Kakashi," she smiled through the blush, "surprisingly for once you were just on time."

Unfortunately, to his inner chagrin, she didn't choose to elaborate and he wasn't going to ask her about her seemingly strange comment. The last thing he honestly wanted to hear about at that time was her apparent sex life. As curious as he was he didn't think he could handle knowing about whatever it was he was just in time for.

"Are you going to take a seat so I can check out your wounds? Or are you going to stand around gawking all evening?" Her blush still lingered faintly at his strangely stilted behavior.

"Don't often get to see kunoichi formally dressed outside of missions. Guess it's a bit of a shock." He chuckled a bit embarrassed, hoping she would buy his little half truth as he pulled a pair of chairs from the table so he could take his usual seat. Inwardly he berated himself at his reaction to her. He was still having a bit of a hard time keeping his typical strict control over himself as his body didn't seem to care that she was his former student, and the fact that she was fourteen years younger certainly wasn't helping matters. If she had been just about _any_ other kunoichi he might have _really_ been able to enjoy himself with the situation. Unfortunately she wasn't another kunoichi and it was truly testing his sense of self control.

She laughed. "That's true; I don't often get to dress in the impractical… Though this," she gestured at her dress, "is a bit more impractical than anything _I_ would have chosen for myself." She moved closer to him to unwrap the bandages that were messily applied to his left shoulder.

He winced a little as she gently removed the inexpertly applied bandages and wondered who had chosen the dress for her to wear, dismissing her blonde bombshell of a friend. Even Ino wasn't bold enough to wear Icha Icha inspired apparel in public. His mind settled again on the probability of a new boyfriend regardless of her recent decision that dating was not worth her while. Despite his firm resolution _not_ to think of his former student in what he thought of as an inappropriate manner, for just a brief moment he felt a surge of irrational jealousy. In all of his own bedroom escapades, he had yet to have his number one fantasy fulfilled – and here his former student was doing it for some stupid schmuck who would probably turn tail and flee once her former teammates returned. It was at this moment that he irrationally decided life was totally and completely unfair.

Once the bandages were completely removed she surveyed the damage, which was minimal at best. "All those bandages for _this_?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

He laughed, "My client's oldest daughter was perhaps a bit over enthusiastic with her aid."

"I'll say," she giggled, "must have been that Hatake charm." She managed to keep her face straight for all of about a minute before laughing at her own joke.

He glared at her until she stopped laughing, "She was _twelve_ Sakura." His voice was fairly steeped in long suffering patience.

Her laughter which had died down returned full force, there was something in the way he said it that just triggered her second bout of laughter. "Aw, Kakashi you've still got it then!"

He sighed and waited for her to calm down, not finding the situation particularly funny at all. He would never have thought that a twelve year old could develop a crush on a man like him.

"Wait, what do you mean 'still got it'?" he asked as her word choice finally surfaced in his mind as strange.

She waved her hand negligently, "Never mind let me patch you up." Once she was able to stop giggling she got down to business healing the minor wounds, paying special attention to the jagged cut slicing through his ANBU tattoo.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously as she went over his tattoo for the sixth time.

"Eh? Healing you, what does it look like?"

"You've gone over that patch six times already."

"Ah…"

"What _ah_?"

"Don't want to leave a scar there."

"Huh? _Why_? I've got lots of scars…"

"Hmm…yes you do."

He waited a moment for her answer and signed with frustration when he realized one wasn't coming. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"_Why_ don't you want to leave a scar there?"

"Oh, right. That tattoo is important. I don't want to leave a scar there."

"Sakura I left ANBU years ago…" he tried to pull his arm away from her.

She refused to let him remove his shoulder from his grasp. "No!" she bopped him lightly on the head as one would a naughty puppy, continuing when he froze to look at her incredulously. "I know they call you back whenever they need you… No one ever _truly_ leaves ANBU. Now hold still for a moment…" She ran her hand over his shoulder one more time, smoothing out the remaining traces of his recent injury. "And done."

She patted his shoulder, tracing his tattoo absently before stepping away from him. Unfortunately while standing still to heal the silver haired man she had forgotten about her restrictive attire. As she straightened and stepped away from the elite jonin her heel snagged the hem of the long dress.

He lunged from his seated position the table to catch her before she hit the floor, managing to snag her waist and using her momentum to spin her slightly to the side, landing her gently on her feet but completely pressed up against him. Inwardly he groaned it was the last thing he would have wanted to happen with the way she had been affecting him since she had shown up at his door. Unbidden his hands lingered on her waist just a little longer than necessary to make sure she was steady on her feet before he hastily stepped away from her.

Shaking her head a little to clear the daze brought upon by the sudden movement she smiled up at him. "Nice catch."

He chuckled, "Tsunade would _kill_ me if her favorite student injured herself while patching up her old teacher after a mission."

She laughed, "It's this blasted dress. I've had no end of trouble from it since I first put the stupid thing on."

He turned quickly to his stove where a teakettle sat with the tea he had made. He had pulled her too close to him, inadvertently brushing her full length up against him in her fall, and once again he found himself in a silent struggle for control of his own body.

"Well the very least I can do is offer you a cup of tea before you go, especially since you were clearly in the middle of something before the gate jonin found you." Inwardly he cringed from what he had just said. It brought up thoughts of what she had been doing before she had been called away and he'd been doing such a good job of _not_ thinking about it while she was healing him. He had actually been starting to get used to seeing her in the Icha Icha inspired apparel, which he could honestly say didn't settle well with him at all.

"Hmmm, that sounds good," she responded just before the sound of ripping fabric caused him to turn and stare at her.

She was bent at her waist holding a small blade and picking the sides of the dress apart at the seams that ran up each side of her legs.

"W-what are you doing?!" he exclaimed, trying to keep his immediate physical reaction to the sight that met his eyes under control, it was almost too much for his severely battered self restraint. She had _no_ idea of what she was so completely and apparently unknowingly doing to him. If it had been just about _any_ other dress he was certain she wouldn't be having an effect on him.

She looked up, not bothering to straighten, making it much worse for the generally stoic silver haired man. She had slit the sides up to just about mid-thigh and was now flexing her legs experimentally, checking her new range of motion.

"What's it _look_ like I'm doing? I'm fixing this dratted dress so I can _move_. It took me _ages_ to get here, from just a couple blocks away. It would take me _forever_ to get home if I left it as it was."

She looked back down to what she was doing with a frown, realizing that if she wanted a _full_ range of motion she would have free her hips from the confining material. The pink haired woman hesitated for a moment, realizing _where_ she was and _who_ she was with, but after a few minutes she inwardly shrugged. He was her former teacher and fourteen years her senior, he wouldn't care or be interested in her slitting the seams as high as she would probably need to be free of the restrictive material. With a couple last tugs she finished splitting the seams on each side up to her waist, revealing the edges of the plain high cut thong she was wearing under the dress. The medic had to fight hard to control a blush. She hadn't meant to go _quite_ that high, but the kunoichi figured the only person who would probably see her would be Kakashi, and she honestly had to admit – to her complete inner embarrassment – that she didn't mind him seeing her in the now modified dress all that much.

Controlling her blush she smiled and straightened. "How about that cup of tea?" Sakura looked up to see that he had turned away from her again to finish preparing two mugs of tea and a plate of cookies. Missing the fact that he was shaking ever so slightly and taking deep calming breaths she returned the small blade to the heel of one of her sandals.

More quickly than the actual action warranted, he brought two steaming mugs of tea and a plate of store bought butter cookies to the table and sat down. Happily she joined him, reaching for the second mug while reveling in the freedom of actually being able to move again and minding the two new slits in her dress.

"Mmm, jasmine?" she asked after savoring her first sip of the fragrant tea.

"Yeah, no caffeine so you can't blame me for keeping you up tonight." Silently he cursed himself for saying it, as he knew he would be able to blame _her_ for keeping _him_ up that night. There was also the fact that he would never be able to re-read Icha Icha Tactics again without Sakura taking the place of his favorite sultry seductress in his mind. Much to his inner disgust the idea wasn't entirely unpleasant.

She laughed, "I'm not on duty until late tomorrow and I _had_ planned on having a bit of a lie in." Absently she reached for one of the cookies and nibbled at the edges of it.

He choked on his tea at her comment and spent a couple moments regaining his breath. If she had been called away from a cozy evening in with an anticipated lie in the next morning, he couldn't imagine her taking the time to have a leisurely cup of tea with _him_.

"You alright Kakashi?" she asked with clear concern in her voice.

"I'm fine. Tea went down the wrong way, that's all." He gasped between coughs.

"Okay," she eyed him concerned for a moment before snagging another cookie from the plate. "Mmm, these cookies are yummy."

"Thanks, I worked really hard making them." He grinned at her, knowing that she knew they were store bought.

"Kakashi!"

"What?" He laughed. "You don't believe me?"

"I think hell would freeze over the day you decided to bake something. You're not particularly what I would call the domestic type."

"No respect, I swear." He chuckled, remembering her days as a genin and the clear lack of skill she had displayed in the area of all things culinary. "Though, as I recall you aren't exactly an expert in the kitchen either."

She stuck her tongue out at him at his inaccurate insult knowing he would have no way of knowing that despite his memories of her genin days her culinary skills were far more advanced than she had let on to her team, but still choosing to take visible offense at his comment just for the principal of it. "Just for _that_, I'm going home." She rose from his table, snatching another couple cookies, and started to the door. The heels she so seldom wore adding a seductive sway to her hips that he was sure she didn't intend while the slits revealed tempting flashes of her clear up to her waist.

The sight was more than he could handle and the surge of illogical and unwanted possessiveness returned mixed with something he couldn't quite identify. He could _not_ let her go out dressed as she was.

"You're not going home just like _that_ are you?" he asked incredulously, careful to keep his voice free of what he considered to be irrational emotions such as jealousy. He'd been debating with himself since she had shown up at his door. Undoubtedly she didn't know just what she was wearing, and now that she had slit the sides she had unintentionally made things much worse for herself. She had done it exactly as a certain seductress had before going out into the night to find some wealthy company for the evening in what was one of his most dog-eared favorite sequences in the entire Icha Icha series.

"Yeah, it's not far, maybe ten blocks." She looked at him questioningly. "_Why_? It's never concerned you before." She laughed at his expression. "I _am_ a big girl now Kakashi, I _can_ take care of myself you know."

"Yes, I know, but not while you're dressed in _that_ dress like _that_," his voice had a strained quality that made her take a step closer to try and discern what was _really_ bothering her former sensei. With his concern for her safety momentarily overcoming his physical reaction to her, he was able finally shove the what he considered to be inappropriate thoughts from his mind to deal with what he thought of as the situation at hand.

"Okay Kakashi, what's going on? You've been acting strangely since I appeared on your doorstep this evening."

Determined to somehow fix the situation without having any more improper thoughts about her he avoided her eyes, "Er… Sakura, _where_ did you get that dress?"

"What? _Why_?"

He sighed, channeling his inner sensei. "Just tell me. Where did it come from?"

"I agreed to go to an event with…" she trailed off, feeling the color drain from her face. "Oh _kami_, don't even tell me this is from…"

He looked up to catch her horrified reaction, amusement clearly present in his eyes. Now that he was absolutely certain it wasn't some sort of bedroom role-play he could find the humor in the situation, though he was now dying to know who had the guts to put her in an Icha Icha dress. His fingers itched to do some facial reconstruction to the person who would dare do it to his favorite former student and then sent her off to go attend to _him_ in the terribly appealing apparel. It seemed like someone's twisted idea of a joke, testing his self control like this. The silver haired man's irritation at the perpetrator firmly relegated the improper thoughts of his former student to the back of his mind, snapping him almost completely back to his usual impassive self.

His amused reaction was all she needed. "That sick twisted _perverted_ _bastard_! No _wonder_ why he didn't…_Ugh_!" she managed a full body shudder to his disgusted enjoyment. "I'll _kill_ him…" she muttered darkly, already planning ways to obtain revenge on the perverted sannin. "No too permanent… I want him to _suffer_ first…"

"Ah, so that answers the question of if you knew what you were wearing." He laughed at the shade of red she had turned; to date he couldn't remember ever seeing her do such a convincing impersonation of a tomato.

"Oh gross! _Kakashi_! Why the _hell_ didn't you tell me?!"

"How was I supposed to know you _didn't_ know? For all I knew you were role-playing with your current boyfriend." He ducked just as a petite fist slammed into the space his head had previously been occupying. "Okay, so maybe not."

"Of course not you _idiot_! Do you think I'd come to _you_ dressed like this on _purpose_?!"

"An old man can dream can't he?" he chuckled to show her he wasn't exactly serious and ducked another chakra enhanced punch.

"_Kakashi_!" She looked at him with sudden horror in her eyes as something dawned on her. "How the hell am I going to get home? Now that I know… I am _not_ going out there like this." She gestured at the ripped dress in disgust.

"I believe I've already said that."

She glared at him. "Alright then, _fix_ it Mr. Smartass!" she looked at him pleadingly despite her harsh tone and words.

He scratched his head as though he were deep in thought. "Well I can see three possible solutions."

She nodded anxiously.

"I could escort you home…"

Before he was able to finish it she interrupted. "_Hell_ no! People talk enough as it is… I can't even begin to imagine what they'd say if someone saw us together with me dressed up like _this_!"

He chuckled, "You'll like option two even less then," he paused and she waited expectantly. "I could loan you some of my old clothes…"

She shook her head, "That would be just as bad. Instead of just being suspicious that I had a secret lover the village gossips would be _sure_ that I did."

He laughed, "That leaves just one option."

She looked at him warily, having the sinking suspicion that she wouldn't like the third option any more than she had the first two.

"That leaves wrapping you in one of my larger coats and carrying you home as though you'd had a little too much to drink at the pub…"

She looked at him pleadingly. "Isn't there _any_ other way? Don't you have _some_ articles of women's clothes? An old girlfriend's perhaps?"

He chuckled. "Sorry Sakura, I'm not the pervert most of the village thinks I am. I'm a man who doesn't like clutter or holding on to things I don't need."

She sighed, "Are those _really_ my only choices?"

"Yup, unless you can think of something you like better?"

"No…"

"Well then, what will it be? Choice number one, two or three?"

"Three please" she answered timidly, unable to meet his eyes. "The only thing the gossips would be able to say about me then would be that I either can't hold my liquor or don't know my limit and had to rely on my former sensei take me home."

"Alright then, I'll just get dressed and we'll be on our way." He rose from the table, heading to his bedroom.

"Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" he turned to look at her questioningly.

"Thanks," she blushed and looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers.

"No problem Sakura, what are friends for?"

He returned several moments later completely dressed in his usual jonin uniform with what she guessed must have been one of his largest lightweight jackets.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

He opened the jacket for her; she could see that the bottom hem would easily reach just about to her knees. Almost hesitantly she made her way to him and the jacket he was holding out for her. As she stepped between his arms he closed them, wrapping the oversized jacket tightly around her – too tight for her to move. Before she could protest she found herself scooped up and tossed lightly over his shoulder.

"Kakashi!" she squeaked, having expected him to cradle her to his chest rather than toss her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

He chuckled at her faint protest, knowing he wouldn't be able to handle actually looking at her as he carried her home without his inappropriate thoughts and feelings returning. Quickly and quietly he exited his apartment and took to the roofs to increase their chances of avoiding being seen.

After a couple moments of silence her curiosity got the better of her.

"Kakashi?" she asked quietly, not really sure if she wanted him to answer her questions.

"Hmm?" he asked to show he was listening though he didn't stop. Murphy's Law dictated that if he were foolish enough to stop while carrying her in such a potentially compromising position it would be on the skylight of some large ballroom where a gala event was taking place and either they would fall through said skylight or something would simultaneously draw everyone's attention to the ceiling just as he stopped.

She hesitated not quite sure she could ask what she wanted to know. "Um…"

"Sakura, in spite of what a lot of people believe about my Sharingan I'm not a mind reader. If you want to know something you're going to have to actually ask..."

She sighed. "Never mind. I suspect I don't want to know…" she trailed off still debating with herself, she _did_ want to know, but didn't really want to ask.

He wondered for only a moment what she could have wanted to ask him about before chuckling. "You want to _know_ don't you?"

"Eh?" she asked, knowing full well what he was talking about, but not quite sure she wanted to admit it.

"You want to know just _who_ you're dressed as, don't you?" he asked, knowing he was right.

"Um, well maybe… It'd be nice to have a few specifics when I pay a certain someone a little visit tomorrow…."

To his annoyance she didn't mention _who_ she would be paying a little visit to. Childishly he decided he wouldn't tell her unless she told him who had dressed her in the Icha Icha apparel. For some strange reason he just couldn't seem to let it go.

After a few moments of silence she realized they were almost at her apartment. "You're not going to tell me are you?" she accused.

"Hmmm… well let me see." He pretended to think about it for a couple moments, sensing her irritation building with each second passing. "How about we make a deal?"

"Kakashi if your deal involves me and this ridiculous dress, _forget_ _it_. I will _not_ play dress up for you every time I stop by on a medical visit."

He was so surprised at her comment that he almost dropped her. She didn't realize how hard this visit had been on him _and_ his self control. The thought alone of her making it a habit… He had a hard time pulling his mind from the gutter where it promptly fell at the possibility of his former student playing dress up for him, never mind the prospect of her making it a regular occurrence.

Taking a moment to viciously push the inappropriate thoughts from his mind he tried again, having a little trouble stringing his words together. "Uh… as… _appealing _as that may be… I honestly don't think I could handle it." He shook his head, clearing the last of the improper thoughts from his mind.

"_Kakashi_!" she squeaked indignantly as she felt her face heat once again. She tried hard not to wonder why the thought of him finding her appealing in the perverted garb didn't quite bother her as much as she would have thought it should.

"No, no I was thinking more along the lines of you telling me who got you to dress up in the first place and I'll tell you who you're dressed as – and anything else you may want to know about the character." He paused as if in thought, "Too bad you didn't ask while we were still at my apartment, I could have _shown_ you…" he trailed off as he landed lightly on her balcony. Unsurprisingly finding the door locked, he carefully set her on her feet so she could dig out a key and open the door.

Unthinkingly she shrugged his coat partially off her shoulders to undo the first couple frogs fastening the top of her dress closed to allow her access to the key she had secreted in her bra – the dress having nowhere else for her to put it.

He _wanted_ to turn away, he _knew_ he should turn away, but he _couldn't_ quite bring himself to avert his eyes. Feeling disgusted with himself once again he chalked it up to the dress, which he noted with some dismay she hadn't bothered to refasten after freeing the key from her now very visible cleavage. Inwardly he groaned and took a harsh grip on himself. Once again his self control was being tested and he _really_ didn't want to fail, especially since it seemed that each test that evening had been progressively harder than the one before it.

In the meantime she unlocked and opened the door, turning to look at him uncertainly. Technically they hadn't finished their conversation, but she wasn't sure if she _wanted_ to finish it. For some strange reason she really didn't want to tell him who had gotten her to dress as she had: she was afraid he would go after the man with the intentions of either severely beating him or thanking him – either one she didn't want to think about.

On top of all that he might even ask _why_ she had submitted to such a request, which was the last thing she wanted him to ask since she was doing it for him in a round about sort of way. She looked around and noticed the light turn on in one of her neighbor's flat and made a decision.

"Kakashi, why don't you step inside for a moment?"

He glanced in the direction she had been looking and nodded, catching on to what she was concerned about and hoping that she wanted to finish their conversation. He was just itching to find out who had influenced her wardrobe decision for the evening and looking forward to paying the cruel man, whoever he may be, a little visit.

Following her through her bedroom to her living room he wondered if he should press for her answer to his proposed deal or if she would give him one unprompted.

She turned to look at him, shrugging off his jacket as she did so. "Um, thank you again Kakashi." She stepped closer to him holding his jacket out to him.

He smiled, realizing she didn't want to tell him who had gotten her to wear the all too tempting Icha Icha garb. "Like I said, what are friends for?" When he reached out to take the jacket from her she quickly slipped closer to him, pulled a corner of his mask down just far enough for her to kiss his cheek before skipping backwards away from him with a mischievous smile on her lips. He had gotten to have his fun at her expense that evening so she figured she was due a little payback.

She giggled at his surprised expression and gently pushed him toward the door. "Good night Kakashi."

* * *

Deciding to spend the remains of her morning on her balcony with a good book and a nice cup of tea, she brewed a pot. Once it was finished she transferred it to the little folding table she kept by her door along with a folding chair. As she was settling herself down for a nice relaxing read she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the lid to her milk box was ajar. Curiously she put her book down and rose to investigate.

Upon opening the box she found a small rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. With just a slight hesitation she picked up the package and removed the paper only to stifle the frustrated shriek of annoyance that found trying to claw itself from her throat and quickly rewrap the item.

Hastily she stepped into her flat to take a better look at the somewhat less than anonymous gift. Removing the paper once again revealed a small orange book entitled 'Icha Icha Tactics' and upon closer examination there was a scrap of paper folded into one of the pages sporting a smiley face with a slash through the left eye.

Against her better judgment she opened the book to the marked page, _knowing_ she would regret it but seemingly unable to stop herself. The marked page was an illustration of a woman wearing the dress Jiraiya had sent to her, bending over to slit the seams of the restrictive garment exactly as the pink haired woman had at her former sensei's flat. She was so irritated that she almost missed the hastily scrawled message at the bottom of the improvised bookmark:

'Next time you can try the naughty nurse outfit on page 224…'


	12. Chapter Twelve: Research

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I apologize for the delay. I had so many problems with this chapter that I honestly don't know where to begin. I don't like to admit I'm still not too thrilled with it, but I don't think anything else I'm going to be able to do with it will actually make any sort of noticeable improvement. I don't think it's awful, but I can say it's probably not my best chapter… Especially with something like the bit of crack that was chapter eleven… A rough act to follow to say the least. ;p

On another note I'm terribly sorry I haven't had the chance to respond to my reviews – I really do enjoy responding to all of them. Unfortunately real life has been crazy lately and to be honest I just haven't had the chance. Up until last Thursday I was trying to get the next three chapters written for my beta before she went off to Europe so every free moment of mine has been focused on writing the next few chapters. I'm hoping that I will have time tomorrow to respond to all my reviews… Better late than never, right? Until then many huge thanks to all who have reviewed! The encouragement they provide is very much appreciated! Thank You!! (As always thanks to FlameTwirler for making a mess better and thanks to FatPuppy for her reassurance that this chapter wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was.)

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Research

Sakura casually made her way into the hospital, cringing when she noticed the glances the nurses working at the front desk exchanged upon seeing her enter. She forced herself to smile and wave a greeting. Inwardly she sighed as she figured word must have gotten around that she had not only gone to an event with _Jiraiya_ but that she had worn a replica of one of the legendary pervert's character's clothing. Upon finally making it to and entering her office, garnering stares the entire way there, she found to her immense relief that her assumption had been incorrect.

Sitting on her desk was another gift from her 'secret admirer.' Stepping closer she saw that the latest 'token of affection' was a rather large tin of loose tea along with a package of the store bought butter cookies she had complimented her former sensei on the previous evening. On closer examination she found that the tea was a special blend for the relief of stress and encouragement of relaxation, simply labeled 'calm.' A note had also been slipped under the corner of the tin:

'Thought you seemed a little tense lately… A nice soothing cup of tea might do you a world of good…'

Angrily she crumpled the little scrap of paper into a little ball at the nerve of the man to send her soothing tea subsequent to teasing her with his earlier gift and suggestive note. After a moment of silent fuming she paused, thought about what she was doing, and allowed her fingers to relax, dropping the crumpled shred of paper back onto her desk. It was an apology of sorts – indirect, just like he was most of the time. She sighed knowing that he had _meant_ well, though she would still like to smack him around a little the next time she saw him.

As she sat down at her desk to start her paperwork she ignored the tiny part of her brain questioning why she could so easily allowed herself to forgive Kakashi. She knew that if it had been almost _anyone_ else, even Naruto or Sasuke, she would not forgive the offender _quite_ so easily or without a heavier bribe price. Hastily she shoved the traitorous thoughts from her mind to settle herself down for what was going to be one _long_ shift.

* * *

He watched silently as she exited her apartment building: on to the hospital for her afternoon shift he guessed. Once she had completely disappeared from sight he sauntered casually into the building to look for a certain bespectacled land lord. Sakura's friends had said that the timid man had feelings for the pink haired medic and had more than hinted that they suspected that she may harbor feelings in return. Opening the main door he felt that it was about time he did something about it.

Kakashi had spent a long couple hours at the monument anxiously seeking a peace of mind he felt he didn't deserve after his all-too-clear and telling reaction to his female former student. After hours of contemplation he had come to a decision: he would gradually cease his close contact with the kunoichi and see what he could do to encourage her landlord, Hideki. That was, of course, if the man passed his muster as worthy enough to be with Sakura. He had in the past thought that Naruto and Sasuke may have gone a little overboard in their 'protection' of her, but somehow he was coming to better understand their stance on the matter.

Desperately he hoped that if he could get her set up with a suitable man his inappropriate thoughts would cease and his improper feelings could be safely locked away once again knowing that she was happy with someone else. He found it extremely disconcerting that his objections to his growing attraction to the young pink haired medic seemed to be steadily crumbling away and _nothing_ he had tried had done him any good. The deeper he tried to bury his feelings for her the more difficult of a time he had keeping them from resurfacing and the more convinced he became that he needed to do something serious about it, _fast_.

* * *

Angrily, Sakura made her way to the edge of one of the less reputable areas of the village. She had been fuming all day. Though her anger had been split between two men until the moment she had entered her office, she had then found the thoughtful peace offering and one lucky man was off the hook while her rage was now redirected entirely at one. After all, she rationalized, it wasn't _Kakashi's_ fault that she had shown up at his apartment dressed as a character from one of his beloved dirty books. So logic followed she couldn't be _too_ angry with him for his reaction, especially since he _had_ given her the answer she had asked for, just not in the way she would have anticipated.

For her own sanity she chose to ignore his indecent suggestion hastily scribbled on the page marker, deciding that it was more to rile her up than anything else. There was just no way he could have been _serious_ about it. A small part of her though, to her inner disgust, wanted to call him on his bluff.

Hastily she shoved the thoughts aside – chalking them up to the events and conversations that had taken place during her recent hot spring holiday. She had been having issues keeping her thoughts strictly professional in regard to the, she hated to admit it, _attractive_ Copy Ninja since her girlfriends had discovered for themselves how striking he could be under all of the layers he habitually wore.

Unbidden her mind flickered back to a conversation she _really_ wished she hadn't been privy to, mostly because more than once _she_ had found herself wondering the same thing…

"_So Sakura, how often does that former sensei of yours read those dirty orange books?" Ino had asked ever so innocently as they were once again lounging in the private hot spring._

"_Eh? Oh, um well I don't know. Whenever he has a free moment I suppose… Why?"_

_Her former rival had eyed the two other women speculatively. They shrugged. _

"_Well I got to wondering… You know how he is known as the __Copy__ Ninja right?"_

_Inwardly Sakura had groaned, afraid she knew where Ino might be going with her line of questioning. Not trusting her voice she nodded allowing her eyes to widen in apparent shock, the flush coming to her face naturally._

"_I wonder if the title only applies to jutsu…"_

_The pink haired medic had almost passed out, her friend had gone __there,__ the absolute __last__ place she had __ever__ wanted to hear anyone go in regard to the silver haired jonin. Somehow she had always figured he would be more than adept in that particular area, but it was __not__ something she really wanted to spend any sort of time pondering._

Abruptly she found herself at the somewhat secluded apartment building where the legendary pervert lived. Shaking the inappropriate thoughts and embarrassing memories of Kakashi from her mind she squared her shoulders and marched in – knowing from going to fetch Naruto too many times exactly where Jiraiya's apartment was located. Upon reaching the door she reined in her temper, knowing it would do her no favors to make Jiraiya shaped holes or large craters in his apartment.

The white haired man answered his door, showing no surprise at seeing her, and let her into his cramped living room. "Sakura, my dear, it's so nice to see you this fine evening. I do hope you had a nice time last night." He glanced closely at her face, looking for any hint of an eminent flare of temper that could send him flying or create costly property damage. "I suppose you're here for your part of the deal then?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You _owe_ me old man," her voice dangerously soft belying her anger.

He raised his hands in front of him in defense. "I don't know what you mean." Hurriedly he rummaged around on the overcrowded shelves before pulling something down, wrapping it in brown paper, and offering it to the clearly irate medic with his best sheepish grin.

She took the package and glared at him. "Don't think I'm going to let you off so _lightly_! I can't believe you, you sick dirty old man!" She smacked him with the package she had received, emphasizing each angry word. "What the hell were you thinking, dressing me up as one of your characters?!" She flushed in embarrassment rather than anger. "Never mind allowing me to go treat _Kakashi_, your biggest fan, dressed like _that_!!"

"Sheesh Sakura. I'm sorry. I've always thought that dress would look stunning on you. I simply couldn't resist trying it out… And how was _I_ to know who you were going to treat. It could have been any number of shinobi…" he trailed off noting her angry expression was not wavering in the least and cursed inwardly. The situation would clearly need some fancy footwork on his part to avoid any further repercussions for his wardrobe choice for the lovely kunoichi. Still, inwardly he had to admit that he was rather satisfied at how he had managed to settle an unofficial debt to his most devout fan – but he would never let _her_ know about it.

* * *

Sakura knew he was in the village; she had healed him not two days prior, smacked him around a little for his Icha Icha inspired suggestion then had to heal him again. Then she had lunch with him as though nothing had changed between the two of them (because she had to admit that nothing actually had) the day before and according to the mission logs he was still unassigned. It was only a matter of finding him.

She sighed. It probably wasn't going to be easy, but if she approached him right, he _might_ help her. Wearily she rolled up the scroll she was studying and placed it in her hip pouch. The assignment had started out innocently enough but if she had actually taken a few minutes to _think_ about it she may have realized that she would be required to obtain the aid of her former sensei before she could advance to the third phase of her recently assigned research. Sakura had hit a complete block since Tsunade had refused her requests to move on to the portion of the project that had originally sparked her interest. Unfortunately the hokage felt that she had some sort of special qualifications which would allow her to attain a more thorough understanding of her chosen area before moving on to the theoretical. In other words, she would not allow the pink haired medic to wiggle out of pinning her former sensei down and obtaining his help.

Resigning herself to the fact that the longer she put it off the longer it would actually take in the end she decided that she might as well stop dragging her feet and go _ask_ the sure to be reticent man. Her first stop would be back to headquarters to study the mission logs in more depth to see who else happened to be in the village. Surprisingly enough a great deal of the factors that ruled his daily patterns were related to who happened to be in the village and who happened to be out on missions.

After checking the mission logs she had a fair idea where he may be, though she wouldn't go to him now, she didn't want to disturb him. He would be at the memorial for the better part of the afternoon. She tried to avoid disturbing him there as he went for meditation and she figured it was bad enough that she bothered him in his own home. She wouldn't pester him while he was at the memorial unless he was in dire need of medical assistance or the village was under siege. She would wait until evening and catch him on his way back to his apartment.

Several hours later she found herself silently waiting in the park across from his apartment building scanning the street for the ever familiar messy bush of silver hair. Her calculations were right and she didn't have long to wait. She caught sight of him sauntering along with the ever present orange book in one hand the other stuffed casually in his pants pocket. The pink haired kunoichi waited until he was almost at the door before she pounced.

"Kakashi!" she called slipping in-between him and his destination.

Not particularly startled, as he _had_ sensed her before she had even been able to see him, he lowered his book to smile at his former student. "Good evening Sakura."

He waited for a moment, wondering if she would tell him why she had decided to seek him out, though he was glad to see that things seemed to be relatively normal between the two of them. After a brief but violent outburst she seemed to have put his Icha Icha inspired gift and suggestion behind her allowing things to go back to normal. Granted, he had not yet had a chance to try and implement his plan to get her interested in a suitable man as each time he had a free moment to try and seek out her landlord the man seemed to be missing in action. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was beginning to get just a little suspicious, though of what he couldn't quite say. A small part of him wondered if he was deliberately sabotaging himself when he went looking for Hideki – after all few people wanted to hear that _he_ was looking for them for an unknown reason especially with Naruto and Sasuke's reputations for beating any man foolish enough to express interest in Sakura. It wouldn't take a panicked civilian much to convince himself that even though Kakashi was not known for that sort of behavior, he was still more than capable of pounding any man interested in his former female student into the ground if he should choose to do so.

Because he hadn't been able to set the first part of his plan into motion he had rationalized not trying to distance himself from her as not worth the effort. At least it wouldn't be worth his effort until the rest of his plan was in motion. Distancing himself from her without having a handy replacement ready to distract her from the fact that he _was_ distancing himself from her seemed like a sure way to fail – at least he assured himself that it was. A tiny component of his mind questioned his logic for such a decision but was hastily overruled by the greater majority of the rest of his brain.

"Um," she flushed a little and looked down for a moment before looking up with her most winning smile. Things had been weird between them for a couple weeks, but they had more or less gone back to how they had been after she meted out her physical punishment to both men, and she had to admit that she was more than relieved.

Subconsciously he drew back a little, knowing instinctively that she was about to ask him for something that she knew would be difficult convincing him he wanted to give her.

"Kakashi, I have a favor to ask…" she paused again, the faint flush returning to her cheeks. "Um, it's kind of personal, but you're really the only one I _can_ ask to help me and I'm kind of stuck… I can't progress any further in my work..."

"Sakura, out with it. Whatever it is I'm sure I'll be more than happy to help you if I can." He smiled reassuringly at her, wondering what on earth she could possibly need from him and if it would interfere with his so far failure-of-a-plan. Off the top of his head he couldn't think of anything she could ask of him that he would be reluctant to either do for her or give to her – aside from removing his mask and showing her his face of course, but then she had stopped asking years ago and was not likely to be asking him now.

She pulled a scroll from her hip pouch and fiddled with it before continuing. "Well, you see… I've been assigned a new area of research at the hospital and the scrolls are well… less than easy to comprehend." Her cheeks colored angrily as she spoke. "The idiot who wrote them had a very high opinion of himself in his own area of expertise – so much so that he decided to leave incomplete notes without diagrams so that no one would ever surpass his knowledge on the subject…"

The older shinobi wrinkled his brow in slight puzzlement. "Sakura, you've studied for _years_ to become a medic and healed me dozens of times. I can't imagine what I could possibly do to help you with your new assignment…."

"Yeah, um" she scratched her head apologetically. "I know you've resisted this in the past, which is probably why they've decided to assign this to _me_…" she grimaced not particularly liking the fact that she was being used, even if it _was_ for a good cause.

His eye narrowed; he was beginning to suspect what had been asked of his former student and he didn't particularly like it.

She noted his clear displeasure and fought to keep from shrinking back at his expression. "I'm sorry Kakashi, I should have realized what they had in mind and refused before it could progress this far. It started out simple enough, transplants… An interesting area in and of itself, quite a well sought after area of study too. I really should have known when they asked me to set aside some of my time to look into kekkei genkai as well. Only a matter of time before they asked me to combine them…" She sighed as she trailed off, upset that she had been put into the position of using her friendship with the infamous Copy Ninja to collect the information he had steadfastly refused all medics daring enough to ask since he had acquired the rather gruesome memento mori from one of his former teammates. Though if she had actually stopped to think about the long term goals for her research she would have realized that she wouldn't be able to progress until she _had_ taken an in-depth look at the best available example of a transplanted kekkei genkai.

After a moment of silence she was able to look up at her former sensei, her friend, a decision made. "Forget about it. They shouldn't have asked and I shouldn't have been stupid enough to try and follow through. It's not right and not fair for me to ask this of you. I'll just try harder to find a way around it so I can continue on with my research without involving you."

He had been fighting an inner battle with himself since she had first asked for a favor, beginning to suspect it might have something to do with what he had promised Tsunade. He _had_ promised her he would help Sakura if and when she asked, but he had never really suspected she would set him up quite like this. He had been about to agree to help her when she had abruptly taken her request back, deciding to refuse the part of the assignment that involved him or find another way of completing it. Seemingly the problem had taken care of itself, unfortunately his conscience seemed to think otherwise and he wasn't quite sure if he could ignore it for any length of time.

A smaller part of him, one he promptly shoved into a dark corner of his mind, suggested it was a great opportunity to spend some time with the kunoichi – he hadn't been around the village much in the recent past and, despite all inner admonitions, he missed seeing and spending time with her. Besides, he further rationalized, he still hadn't been able to corner her landlord so there was really no point in pushing her away _quite_ yet…

The medic turned to walk away only to find herself unable to move, confused she turned to face the man holding her in place with a hand on her shoulder. "Kakashi?"

"Sakura… its fine. I'll do what I can to help you with your research."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "But you've _always_…"

He sighed inwardly, not wanting her to know how much he didn't particularly care for the situation. "I guess it's about time I let _someone_ take an in-depth look at what having and using the Sharingan has done to me."

She stared at him open mouthed and he chuckled.

"And I suppose that if _someone_ has to do it, I'd much rather that person be _you_."

She flushed and he inwardly kicked himself as he realized he was just making it more difficult for when he did finally manage to pull himself away.

* * *

The silver haired man casually sauntered into the pub with thoughts of spending a relatively quiet evening, considering his generally noisy green clad drinking buddy was currently away on a mission, at the pub slowly drowning the inappropriate thoughts that continued despite all his efforts to the contrary to plague him in sake. After scanning the crowd to find that he was actually the first to arrive for the evening he made his way to the bar to get his usual bottle of sake.

Once hr had settled himself in his usual dark corner booth he idly scanned the pub again, looking for something to distract him until the rest of his usual drinking buddies appeared. He wasn't quite up to cracking Icha Icha Tactics just then as it had been a particularly rough day with Sakura spending too much time at the forefront of his mind already, opening the dirty orange book did _not_ seem to be a good idea. As his eye made a second sweep of the patrons he noted two familiar shinobi enter. Inwardly he sighed as he watched them scan the pub with their eyes settling on him. They had obviously been looking for him in particular, not usually a good thing.

He watched as the two had a brief conversation ending with the dark haired man heading to the bar and his blonde haired friend making his way to the corner booth in the back.

"Kakashi!" he greeted the generally silent shinobi. "We've been looking _all_ over for you! I can't believe we found you _after_ we had given up looking." He shot the older man an unreadable look. "I don't know how Sakura does it! She can find you _whenever_ she wants!"

"Idiot!" the dark haired man joined them bearing two bottles of sake along with the accompanying cups. "That's because she's been the one to spend the most time with him lately. Of _course_ she would be able to find him."

The two younger shinobi seated themselves at the booth without having been invited to do so.

"I hear you were looking for me?" he tried, hoping they weren't going to broach the one subject he didn't want to discuss, their fourth former teammate.

"Yeah! We've been meaning to ask you for a while now…" Naruto shot a furtive glance around the pub before lowering his voice to continue. "We've been hearing an awful lot about some _loser_ secret admirer Sakura seems to have acquired while we were away…"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at his friend's blunt and direct line of questioning; rarely did that sort of thing work with the Copy Ninja.

"I'm not sure what you're asking of me here?"

"Well Sakura won't budge on it, but we," he nudged his friend, "think she knows more than she is saying."

"Okay…So what do you want from me then?"

"Well we thought that you might know something about it." Sasuke cut in before his friend could say something less tactful.

"Ah, I see. And why would you think _I_ would know something about this then?"

"You have been spending more time with her than anyone else lately, and she always _did_ favor you as a good advisor…" he trailed off, hoping the older jonin would take the bait and spill some information to his comrades, though he wasn't expecting Kakashi to do so. No, the man wouldn't fall for such an easy tactic, even among friends, and probably enjoyed playing with them too much anyhow when he had the power of information.

"C'mon Kakashi, it's for her own good." He glared at his former sensei feeling in no mood to play some stupid game with the older man before continuing to explain his point of view on the matter. "Anyone too cowardly to face us doesn't deserve to be with her end of story." The irritated Uchiha lost his remaining patience with his former teacher, feeling as though the older man was just toying with him and his blonde friend.

Kakashi laughed at his former student's irritation and absently wondered how quickly the annoyance would be wiped from the Uchiha's face if he were to tell them that _he_ was Sakura's 'secret admirer' and what sort of expression it would be replaced with. Granted the whole thing was just a game between himself and Sakura, but Sasuke didn't know that.

Then again, Sasuke had been protesting a little too much lately about Sakura's string of ill fated relationships. He was fairly certain that the dark haired man harbored no romantic feelings for Sakura, but it was possible that he _was_ jealous of other men getting too close to someone he considered as his in that she had been so clearly head over heels for him for such a long time that it had never particularly occurred to him that he would eventually have to _share_ her with other men. Sharing was _not_ something that came naturally to the Uchiha and he didn't relish being in Sakura's position when she finally had to point it out to him.

Inwardly resolving not to let them in on the secret quite yet he smiled at the two aggravated younger men. "Sorry, Sakura has told me nothing about it. Even if she _had_ chosen to confide in me the true identity of her 'secret admirer' I rather doubt she would like for me to tell you two, especially after she intentionally didn't share anything with either of you in the first place." It wasn't _quite_ a lie, since Sakura hadn't told him anything about her 'secret admirer,' granted that was mostly because _he_ was said admirer, but that was neither here nor there. The bottom line was that technically it wasn't a lie since it _was_ absolutely true, jut not quite the whole truth...

"_Kakashi_! That's not _fair_!!" the blue eyed man whined, forgetting for a moment that the silver haired jonin had admitted that he didn't know anything about the matter.

"Life's not fair Naruto, get used to it," the older man calmly replied, pulling out his ever handy orange novel as a clear sign to the two younger men that the conversation had ended and he was done talking about their former female teammate.

* * *

Sakura knocked almost hesitantly, feeling unsure of her decision to go through with studying Kakashi's Sharingan, especially since despite his protests to the contrary she knew he really didn't like it. She still couldn't imagine why he would agree in the first place if he was so uncomfortable with the idea of her studying his Sharingan and just what effects it had had on him after so many years of use and overuse.

As she was lost in thought the door opened and Kakashi smiled as he let her in.

"Hello Sakura, right on time as usual."

She smiled back and nodded her hello, feeling almost as awkward as she had the first time she had pushed her way into his apartment to heal him. Almost shyly she ducked under his arm to enter as he seemed almost reluctant to let go of or move away from the door. Glancing back at him uncertainly she cautiously made her way to his kitchen as was her usual procedure. Upon arriving she found that he had made tea and already set up his table for her.

He followed her back in and served her a cup of the warm brew before making himself comfortable on the kitchen table as if it was one of her usual checkups. Over the years many medics had expressed interest for one reason or another in his Sharingan and apparently she was no different, though her real objectives were far from clear to him since she had not elaborated on just what aspect of his Sharingan she wanted to study and it was obviously only a part of what she was actually researching. Thoughts of asking her about it faded as he realized that since she hadn't told him while asking for his help – when she really could have used something to help back up her request for his aid – it was probably classified, which of course only served to peak his interest even more.

An hour or so later, after her preliminary observations had been made, she looked at him from out of the corner of her eye to see that his natural eye had slid shut – probably because what she had been doing to his Sharingan had relaxed the rest of him and might have even made him a little sleepy. A small smile played across her lips as an idea occurred to her, her uneasiness having long ago been dispelled as she went through the familiar motions of a usual exam before starting to put his Sharingan through its paces.

As gently as she could she slid her fingers lightly around his eye socket allowing a little chakra to leak directly into the Sharingan itself. Almost lazily the tomoe began to spin, attracted to the chakra she was dragging around in a slow circle. She stopped and then tried again with the same result. Just as she was about to make a third attempt going in the opposite direction his natural eye opened and focused on her.

"Sakura, it's not a toy you know. It _is_ my eye and I can see that glint of mischief in _your_ eye."

She flushed and withdrew from him, giggling a little. "I know, but yours is so much more fun to play with than Sasuke's… Not that he really lets me play with his very often…" She paused in thought for a moment. "Yours is more responsive I think."

He nearly choked as she spoke, his corrupted mind easily able to find a second meaning to what she was saying.

She continued on without noticing his discomfort. "Must be your superior self control – Sasuke hasn't quite reached your level in that area yet." She studied his taken aback expression for a moment. "I wonder if it is the fact that you're older and just plain more experienced or if it is because yours is not natural so you have to work harder to control it?"

His surprise at her first few statements faded and he was able to find his tongue. "Sasuke let you study his Sharingan?"

She waved her hand negligently. "Of course. If I wanted to take a look at _yours_ I would have to have _something_ to compare it to… And Sasuke is really the only other available option." She laughed. "I'll admit that it took _quite_ a lot of convincing. I think he is more interested in knowing how _your_ Sharingan compares to his…"

She fell silent as she picked up her notebook and started writing notes again. He watched her intently wondering if she would have any sort of verdict for him. As much as he had resisted the idea of having someone take a look at his transplant he had always been interested in knowing for himself more about just what it had done to him and as a consequence he couldn't help but be eager to hear what she had to say. The more she wrote the more curious he became – reading the movements of her pencil told him nothing as she seemed to be writing in some sort of medical short hand of which he could decipher nothing. After a few moments a small frown appeared on her face as she continued to write, every once in a while consulting another notebook and a pair of ancient looking scrolls.

She felt his eyes on her and continued to write with the small frown gracing her features. From what she could tell his Sharingan was remarkably sound and his body had done its best to adapt to the demanding alien eye. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of deterioration of his own ocular system as a consequence. As she finished writing she glanced up to catch him staring at her and flushed a little.

"I'd like to try something if you don't mind?" she smiled at him hoping he would acquiesce to her request.

He nodded. "Go ahead. I trust you."

Almost eagerly she placed one of her hands carefully to his left temple. She closed her eyes and concentrated. As gently as she could she eased a thin tendril of chakra into the muscles surrounding his Sharingan to ease the tense pain and stiffness he had learned to live with and had not really noticed until she had taken it away. Once she had soothed the area around his eye she gently nudged a couple ligaments, managing to untwist a partially tangled one that was probably a result of the original transplant procedure.

Unable to help himself he let out an enormous sigh of relief, startling the concentrating medic nin. Once she was able to regain her concentration she continued, easing the havoc the alien eye had wreaked on the area immediately surrounding his eye socket. She felt slightly gratified to find her suspicions had been correct. The years of hard use had not been kind to his eye, but some of it could be reversible with regular treatments and more attention to the condition of his eye.

"Hmm…" she sat in thought apparent contemplation, staring at his eye in thought. After a few moments she shook herself visibly and started writing again. When she finished she looked up at him again.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked careful to keep his intense interest from his voice.

She bit her lip a little before answering. "Well honestly better than I had dreaded, but not as good as I would really have liked to have hoped."

She shook her head ruefully. "Though I'll need to check in on it a couple more times to see what it looks like after you've used it and of course after you've _over_used it… I would also like to see how the strengthening of your ocular system holds up under the strain you put on it." She tilted her head a little speculatively, "I know you must know that you are slowly going blind in that eye, though by untwisting a few of the ligaments has probably made a noticeable improvement and eased some of the tenseness you must have been feeling for years now... You will continue to lose your sight unless treated on a fairly regular basis. I _might_ be able to slow it down, but I'm afraid nothing will truly be able to stop it." She sighed, "I really was hoping for better news for you…"

Sensing her sadness, he decided to do something to cheer her up a little. He pushed himself off of the table and offered her his hand.

Feeling puzzled she looked up at him questioningly.

"I'm hungry, let's go get some dinner."

"But…but didn't you hear what I just told you?" she asked still feeling confused.

He smiled. "Yup, now come on I'm starving."

She continued to look at him incredulously.

The silver haired man sighed, "It's no use worrying about something that can't be changed. I think I've probably known most of that on some level for years now anyway. Hearing it from an official source doesn't change the fact that there isn't a whole lot I can do about it." He chuckled, "And there's probably no way _you're_ going to let me get away with not doing anything that _can_ be done to help with the situation."

She smiled as she understood and took his arm, wondering why he seemed to be in such a chivalrous mood and if it would extend to paying for their dinner though _she_ was clearly the one who owed _him_.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Heat

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.  
A/N: Many thanks to all who have read and reviewed! Your reviews have been keeping me going though some sticky situations. :) I will respond to all of them either later today or tomorrow depending on my schedule – I do want to respond so I will make time one way or another.

Chapter fourteen is on schedule to be posted a week from next Saturday – I will continue to post one-shots on The KakaSaku Fanfiction Archive (see link on my profile page or LiveJournal) on the alternating Saturday. So next Saturday I'll be posting another one-shot. Title TBD since I haven't decided which one to clean up to post yet. :)

As always thanks to my two betas FatPuppy and FlameTwirler. :D You guys keep me writing with your encouragement and constructive criticisms – much appreciated!

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Chapter Thirteen: Heat

The heat was incredible and had been for the past week; she couldn't believe it could actually get this hot _or_ humid. Never in her memory had the temperature risen so high in Konoha nor had the atmosphere gotten so heavy and sticky. Of course her building's central air had, like many of the apartment buildings in the city, a major meltdown on the first day of the heat wave leaving her to slowly dissolve into an uncomfortable puddle while trying to fall sleep each night. If it had merely just been hot _or_ humid she may have been better able to handle it, but the combination of the two uncomfortable elements made for a potentially deadly amalgamation.

Almost absently she wondered if it was possible to have one hundred percent humidity in such lethal heat _without_ having rain. The clouds had rolled in two days prior and a complete lack of movement within the air itself had ensured that they would stay until some other outside force moved them or it rained. She had been fervently hoping that it would be the latter; she could do with a nice rain shower to clear the air. Unfortunately her hopes had been thus far ignored despite the ominous presence of heavy dark storm clouds.

Sighing she gave one last push at the frame of the door to her small balcony, attempting to inch it open just a little bit more in the futile hope of luring the nonexistent breeze into her stifling bedroom. Once she was satisfied that her door was open as wide as the frame would allow, she drew her sheer curtains across to at least pretend to create some privacy from any prying eyes while still allowing the air to circulate. Normally her training would scream at her for the foolishness of leaving her balcony door wide open over night, but with the stifling heat her comfort won out over sense. She was able to at least lend some justification to her actions by figuring it was too damn hot for someone to even _think_ of attacking or trying to break and enter, never mind actually following through with their plans if she could judge by the lethargy seeping into her own limbs.

Going to her bureau she opened one of the deeper bottommost drawers, the one filled with all the clothing she had purchased on a whim. These were clothes she had picked up thinking maybe one day she would have a reason or – and she inwardly blushed to think – a _person_ to wear them for.

After her recent birthday she had been tempted to relegate the dress Genma had given her to this drawer as well, convinced she would _never_ have an occasion to wear it, but for some reason she just wasn't able to consign the, she hated to admit lovely if not provocative, dress to the drawer filled with clothes she was fairly certain she would never wear. Instead, she had dutifully hung it on a hanger at the back of her closet, now next to the Icha Icha dress Jiraiya had sent to her, where she had hoped that it would stay out of sight and out of her mind.

The undergarments the perverted sannin had provided to go with the Icha Icha dress _had_ been relegated to the drawer. Inwardly she had to admit that there was nothing _wrong_ with the bra and panty set – especially since no one other than herself was likely to ever see her in them – but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to don such intimate apparel from the lecherous old man – especially knowing that the letch would know what he had given to her and would be able to picture it, she shuddered at the prospect. Knowing what she did now about the dress she wouldn't be particularly surprised if the undergarments were also borrowed from one of his dirty little orange books. She would probably never know for sure though as the only person she could actually ask other than Jiraiya was Kakashi but he had enjoyed her in dress just a little too much, she feared the undergarments would just be pushing it.

Shaking her head to clear unwanted thoughts of Icha Icha inspired apparel from her mind, she went back to sorting through the assorted and carefully folded tops, skirts and occasional dresses and eventually came to the sleepwear. The silky fabric of the night dresses and miscellaneous pieces of lingerie felt cool and welcoming against her skin. With a grin of triumph she pulled a tiny silky cropped tank top out along with the matching flared but equally tiny silky shorts from the very bottom of the drawer.

Happily she shed her sticky modified medic's uniform to take a cool shower and slip into the silky nightwear with a sigh of pleasure. Not bothering to dry her hair she grabbed a jar of body crème, her one true expensive luxury, and returned to her bedroom. The pink haired woman settled herself on a chair, yawning and stretching a little, arching her back against the back of the chair while running her fingers through her hair to gently shake the remaining moisture from it.

After an extended moment she shivered a little and relaxed her back before extending her legs outward as far as she could, flexing her toes a couple times in the process. Feeling better after her little stretch she propped her legs up on her dresser to apply the expensive lotion. It had been something her mother had insisted she do, something small to pamper herself everyday. If she didn't do it for herself no one else would and _all_ women deserved at least a _little_ bit of pampering.

Her obsession with this particular lotion had started while on a mission in the Land of Grass. Their client had been the president of a major cosmetic company specializing in lotions and soaps. His son had made a gift of it to her in thanks of her services rendered. While there, she was able to treat him and his girlfriend for food poisoning, a result of the girl's well meaning attempt to make him dinner. It hadn't exactly been part of her mission, but she had felt compelled by her medical training to help where and when needed. To express his thanks, he had given her a couple jars of one of his family's most popular products, an expensive body crème. She had hesitantly accepted and, after discovering how much better it worked than any other cream she'd tried, she had taken to using it every day. When she ran out she had begun having it specially ordered though the local body shop.

Carefully, so as not to waste any she smoothed the crème into her legs. The kunoichi sighed already feeling a little cooler since taking a shower, slipping into the skimpy pajamas, and now applying the cool crème to her legs. A slight sound started her from her reverie, casually she glanced up to survey the room, her heartbeat increasing slightly as possibilities drifted through her mind. Nonchalantly, she reached for one of the many stashes of kunai she had secreted around her apartment. Her eyes lit upon the open balcony and she paused.

A familiar silhouette slouched in her doorway with one hand extended toward her sheer curtains, seemingly frozen where he was. Hastily she rose to greet her unexpected visitor, forgetting her somewhat less than appropriate attire. She wondered what he was doing there and why he had stopped at the doorway instead of entering. All of her boys had an open invitation to her apartment, especially if they needed help, and though he had never utilized it, the invitation was always open to Kakashi.

* * *

Painfully he made his way to the gate, noticing as he passed through it that he had lucked out and managed to time it just right since no one seemed to notice him limp quietly into the village. Not even pausing to consider his options, he set off directly for her apartment. He'd never before felt the need to use her 'open door' policy, but he wisely realized that he was in no condition to go and wait for her to come to him at his own place. He hoped she would be home, as he didn't think he would be able to make it to the hospital after stumbling all the way to her apartment building.

As he made his way, with an increasing lack of coordination that he put down to blood loss, he let his mind wander. He wasn't particularly surprised to find that it settled on the pink haired medic he was currently on his way to see. While he was away, he had found himself thinking of her at odd moments, something that had bothered him at first but had eventually been able to attribute to her current area of research and the help he had been giving her with it. She had asked him, if he could without jeopardizing either himself or the mission, to try and answer a couple questions she had about how he used his Sharingan in an actual combat situation. Consequently he had found himself thinking of _her_ rather than her questions. He hoped she wouldn't ask him if he had had a chance to try and ponder the queries she'd put to him as he had ended up spending more time thinking of _her_ than the information she'd requested of him and he wasn't particularly sure how he could explain it to her with out annoying or embarrassing the younger medic.

After several minutes of awkward but still mostly stealthy travel, he found himself at her apartment building. Upon looking up to her balcony, he heaved an inner sigh of relief at the fact that her light was on and her doors wide open – she was home. Almost clumsily he landed on her balcony, still managing to remain silent, unfortunately as he moved he realized he had managed to reopen his wounds. Cursing inwardly, but still feeling thankful that he had arrived, he raised a hand to brush aside the sheer curtain she had drawn across her open doors. Bringing his gaze up to his hand on the sheer fabric, he froze, his eye wide with surprise.

She had just entered her bedroom, wearing the least amount of clothing he had _ever_ seen her in, even in comparison to the tiny top and short skirt she had worn to her birthday party at the pub and the Icha Icha dress she had worn that one time to check up on him. Inwardly, he couldn't decide which had been worse, opening his door to find her in a replica of an Icha Icha dress or coming across her in this pair of miniature shorts and cropped tank top. Before his mind could wager a guess she plopped herself down on a chair and stretched.

As she arched her back against the chair – to crack it, the rapidly fading logical part of his mind guessed – her top rode up to the point where it revealed the very hint of the bottom of the curve of her breasts. To make matters worse she raised her hands to her hair, shaking the damp strands and unintentionally inching her tank top up just enough to completely reveal the full lower curves of her breasts and firmly etch the image in his mind. Managing to stifle a groan, he felt thankful once again for his mask as it concealed his immediate physical reaction very well. He was tired, weak and injured; he did not need this sort of test of his self control _or_ the additional blood loss. Just as he thought he wouldn't be able to take it any longer, she shivered slightly before releasing the innocently appealing pose and extending her legs, curling her toes a couple times before propping them up on her bureau next to her.

Completely entranced he watched as she opened a jar of something that he realized with a slight surprise smelled of the same scent he usually associated with _her_, revealing the source of the very light subtle floral scent. She then began to carefully and methodically rub it into her legs, starting at her ankles and working her way up to her knees. Once finished with her shins and calves she started working on her thighs, her fingers easily skimming up to and under the silky shorts she was wearing. It was at this point that he found himself unable to take it any longer, and with the combination of exhaustion, blood loss from his wounds, and the all too enticing sight in front of him, he blacked out. Somehow he managed to stay on his feet, but at the same time he was unable to prevent a very soft sigh from escaping from his mask covered lips, alerting the kunoichi to his presence.

* * *

"Kakashi?" she asked as she moved closer to him, "What are you doing here?"

She drew back the sheer curtains to see one wide nearly white eye staring at her in what she could only equate to panic. Clearly he had caught her in her less than decent night apparel applying lotion to her legs – not exactly the best of circumstances she had to admit to herself sheepishly. Granted, both Naruto and Sasuke had walked in on her at _far_ less convenient times; she had even lost a couple decent but cowardly boyfriends that way. Inwardly she had to grin at the thought that if her former teacher despite all of the instances she had proved to him otherwise, still thought of her as the same silly little twelve year old she had been when they first met, he had probably just been forced to face the _physical_ reality that she had indeed grown up. She almost laughed at his dazed expression… until she noticed the blood. What was left of his vest and shirt seemed to be soaked in it, so much so that a small pool was rapidly forming at his feet.

"Oh!!" Her eyes went wide at the completely unexpected sight. "W-w-what..." she gulped and tried again, "W-what happened?" she asked feeling terribly guilty for her amusement temporarily overriding what should have been initial concern.

When he made no move to answer her, she tried waving her hand and snapping her fingers in front of his eye. Receiving zero response, she realized he was completely in shock. Somehow he was managing to stay on his feet, but for all intents and purposes he was dead to the world, entirely unconscious. Hastily she reached out to pull him into her room, all her previous thoughts and amusement at his predicament flying from her mind.

Momentarily, the distress of the situation had her at a loss; she wasn't sure what she should do first or where she should settle him to do it. He looked to be in bad shape – _really_ bad shape – much worse than she remembered seeing him in for quite a long time. Briefly, she wondered just what sort of mission he had returned from that brought him back to the village with such dangerous and clearly life threatening injuries and why someone at the gate hadn't forced him to go to the hospital. Or rather, she couldn't figure out why someone at the gate hadn't called for backup to get him to the hospital before calling her in to help deal with his obviously serious injuries.

After a moment of indecision, she decided to leave him standing in the middle of her room long enough to grab a bunch of clean towels, bandages, and medical supplies from her bathroom along with a basin of warm water. When she returned he was still where she had left him, and if she guessed correctly, he hadn't even moved so much as an inch. Carefully, she arranged several of the towels on the floor and forcibly managed to settle the injured shinobi down into a sitting position on them. She would have liked for him to lie flat, but she could see from his torn and bloodstained vest the wounds on his chest extended over his shoulder and continued across his back making it difficult for her to settle him down completely until she had dealt with either the injuries on his back or those across his chest.

Gently she pulled off his forehead protector, replacing it with a thick bandage; the last thing she wanted would be for him to mistake her for an enemy and try to use his Sharingan on her. Though it had never happened the fact that it _could_ never left her thoughts when she treated him, especially when he was in such a state where he might not realize what he was doing.

Next, she removed his vest stiff with both dried and fresh blood. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, feeling very happy that she had hardwood flooring in her room which made for easy clean ups when dealing with an injured friend. She grimaced in sympathy at the deep gashes running across his chest over his shoulder and across his back. She had been able to tell from the amount of blood loss that he was pretty badly injured, but she hadn't quite guessed just _how_ badly until seeing how deep some of them were.

It wasn't like Kakashi to allow himself to become _quite_ so seriously injured during a mission. She felt a brief pang of guilt as she wondered if the questions she had asked him might have been the cause of his uncharacteristically poor state. Hastily she pushed her feelings of guilt aside; she could deal with them at a later time, to concentrate on the man in front of her.

Making the decision that his shirt would be unsalvageable, she pulled out a kunai from his pouch and cut both his over shirt and undershirt away. She made sure to be extra careful when pulling the fabric from both of the partially closed and open wounds, not wanting to cause a patient undue pain, especially not this one.

The pink haired woman debated over letting him keep the mask; upon closer inspection she could see that it too was stained with fresh blood. She felt her cheeks heat at the most likely implication. Not sure how she felt about unintentionally giving her former sensei a nosebleed, she quickly pushed the thought from her mind, forcing herself back to dealing with the crisis at hand. Since she could see that the bulk of his injuries seemed to be on his back, chest, and arm, she decided to let him keep the mask – though she did carefully saturate it with some warm water to get as much of the blood out as possible without inadvertently drowning him.

Unbidden, her mind returned to what she had mentally labeled as the 'Icha Icha Incident.' She still didn't really know what to make of the whole episode. Looking back on it, she had felt red hot embarrassment as some of his actions, which had puzzled her at the time, suddenly made sense in the context in which he had placed them the next morning with his not so anonymous gift.

After further thought about it she had been horrified to find that it didn't bother her _nearly_ as much as she felt it should have, and much to her further disgust she had found what she considered to be a perverse sense of pride in the fact that she had been able to affect the famously stoic man. He read dirty novels in public without batting an eyelash so the fact that _she_ had been able put some cracks in his outward façade of impassivity secretly pleased her more than she would ever like to admit. Granted, if she were to be completely honest with herself, she would also admit his reaction probably had a whole lot more to do with the dress than the woman wearing it. Still, she thought of it as an accomplishment – not one she would _ever_ share with anyone – but nonetheless still something of an achievement.

She felt her face heat as she realized that her rationalization for the reasoning behind her ability to get a rise out of her former sensei that one time had rather just been proven wrong. Faster than she would have thought possible, she let that particular line of thinking drop, even though a small part of her persisted in pondering just a little at the possible implications of the slightly disconcerting discovery.

Viciously, she pushed all inappropriate thoughts of him from her mind to concentrate fully on his current condition, minus his apparently recent nose bleed. He was seriously injured and needed her help him – not for her to sit there ogling him and remembering the _one_ other time she had been able to get a physical reaction out of the man. Unfortunately, she had found that ever since her holiday at the hot spring with her friends her former sensei invaded her mind far too often for her liking, and rarely in what she would term appropriate thoughts. Mentally she made a note to somehow get back at Ino for cracking open the door she had always kept firmly shut for her own peace of mind.

Quickly she cleaned his wounds as best she could before gently shifting him so he lay on his uninjured side, allowing her access to both his chest and back but also giving his body a chance to relax a little and rest. Taking a deep breath she lay both palms flat against his back: this was clearly going to be a two handed job. Forcibly calming herself, she concentrated and sent inquiring tendrils of chakra into his system, looking for additional injuries as well as encouraging the healing process of those that were immediately apparent. As she scanned his system, she noticed something not quite right, something just a little bit … off.

It hit her like a load of bricks, and she pulled her hands away from him so quickly one would have thought that he had burned her. It was _poison_. Inwardly she cursed, she was well versed in many kinds of healing, but poisons were not exactly her specialty – there were just too many of them! She could easily treat most of the poisons shinobi commonly came across, and she knew general methods of dealing with just about anything else, but unfortunately the general methods were both time and chakra consuming and could be highly labor intensive depending on how long the poison had been in the person's system and how far it had spread.

The medic in her could unfortunately already rule out all poisons with which she was familiar and move onto the unfamiliar. She could tell by its sluggish movements through his bloodstream that it was of the slow time delayed variety. He was lucky that it didn't seem to have spread as quickly as it could have in spite of the length of time it had probably been in his system as well as his physical exertions to reach her apartment. Most likely he hadn't started to actually feel the effects of it until he had completely stopped moving, coming to a halt on her balcony. Mentally sorting through different extraction methods, she quickly matched his symptoms to a one of them, though not an exact poison. It would be painfully tedious but possible to remove it from his system without damaging him, even though it had clearly had at the very least several hours and the aid of his intense physical activity to help it make its way deeper into his system.

A faint groan startled her from her somewhat panicked reverie. On moving back in front of him she could tell that he was partially cognizant, but what she could see of his forehead was covered in sweat and he seemed to be in a _lot_ of pain. Snapping herself out of it she placed a hand against his chest, took a deep breath, and settled down for what could be a _very_ long and uncomfortable night.

Before she actually started, the kunoichi paused to gently brush some of the sweat and hair from his forehead with her free hand, "I'm sorry Kakashi. This is probably not going to be pleasant for you, and I don't think I have enough chakra to spare trying to make it less… painful…"

He groaned again softly and she took it as an assent or perhaps an acceptance of her preemptive apology. Just as she started the sure-to-be long and painful process of removing the poison a wisp of a breeze toyed with her hair as the sky opened up, releasing all of the trapped moisture from the air in the form of heavy rain.

Four and a half hours later found her still hunched over him; the strong blue glow had faded to a dim glimmer, and the rain had ceased falling, leaving a welcome sense of relief. She had just spent the better part of her night laboriously sifting through his bloodstream to strain out _all_ traces of the poison and urging them back out through the entry wound. It was difficult, tedious and bloody work, but eventually, just as the glow from her hands began to flicker, she finished, heaving a huge sigh of relief.

Sitting back heavily, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, unknowingly smearing a streak of his blood across her face. She carefully assessed her work: her chakra was just about depleted and she had not had a chance to heal his actual wounds. She grimaced but knew they would have to wait.

She sat for a few moments trying to catch her breath and figure out a game plan. Belatedly she realized she probably _should_ have sent away for help from the hospital once she figured out that it was poison, but somewhere deep down she had been loathe to betray the trust of the injured shinobi lying before her. He had come to _her_ not the hospital, and she wanted to prove him right for coming to her for his confidence in her abilities. Hell, it was the first time he had _ever_ actually come to her instead of hiding out in his apartment and forcing her going to him. The pink haired woman wanted him to continue to come to her when he was injured instead of holing up and pretending his injuries would go away if he ignored them long enough.

Almost painfully she cleaned his chest, shoulder and back again then moved on to treat the gashes with antiseptics. While she was waiting for the ointments to dry a little, she removed what she could of his unnecessary clothing: sandals, pouches, leg wrappings and gloves. When she had finished she found the bandages she had brought in with her and as gently as she could while still remaining firm she bound his chest as tightly as she could. Once the ugly wounds had been covered she used the remains of her chakra to pull the injured jonin up and settle him on her bed.

The waves of pure exhaustion hit her as she tried to straighten herself and she found that she had to sit down quite suddenly. The vague idea of staggering to and crashing on the couch in her living room faded into her exhausted mind. Sighing and giving into the all too appealing thoughts of sleep, she slumped against the side of her bed and let sweet slumber take her.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Morning

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I'm still hoping to make time to respond to all of them, but to be honest it's looking less and less possible as I just don't seem to have the free time I used to. :( I think I'd be much better off spending the couple hours it takes to respond to reviews working on this fic. I'm terribly sorry as I do enjoy responding to all the fantastic comments I've received.

On a much happier note a fantastic friend has done a wonderful job in capturing a scene from Chapter Eleven: Favor and posted it on It's entitled 'Nice Catch' and is by fatpuppy – many thanks for helping with this chapter too! – for a link check my profile page.

Next weekend I'll be attending PortCon Maine and will not be posting either a one shot or chapter fifteen. I will be posting a one shot the next weekend though. By then my other beta FlameTwirler should have returned and there is the glimmer of a possibility that I might be able to step up my updating schedule once again… That's a big maybe!

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Chapter Fourteen: Morning

The bright light of the early morning sun played upon Kakashi, teasing his eyelid until he finally felt forced to crack it open a little. He shifted slightly and felt a searing pain scream across his chest, over his shoulder and down his back. Opening his eye completely he shifted his head slightly to look down at his chest and noticed two things: The first was the unpleasant realization that his chest had clearly not been healed. Rather, it had been cleaned and tightly bound with bandages by the pink haired medic instead.

The second was much more pleasurable, though slightly worrying for he wasn't sure why he was able to take so much pleasure from it. Sakura lay slumped against the side of what he realized must be her bed with one bloody hand curled into the blanket resting partially on his waist, the other one folded under her head. He could tell that she was deep asleep by the even breaths she was taking through her slightly parted lips. Almost absently he noted the nearly serene expression gracing her face, if one were to dismiss the smear of what he assumed to be his blood across her forehead.

Hastily, he tore his gaze from the sleeping kunoichi and in doing so his eye came to rest on the bloody mess on her floor. The mass of gory towels, basin filled with dirty red water, and the shallow congealed pools of blood gracing the floor of her room spoke all too clearly of what she had done. Inwardly he cursed; if he had realized at the time he had been hit with poison he would probably have found the ninja at the gate and let himself be escorted to the hospital rather than bother his well meaning former student with such a serious condition.

He found his eye drifting back to her once again of its own accord. She had done what he knew from experience could take two or three normal medics a couple grueling hours to do. For a brief moment, he felt a surge of pride for his former student before reminding himself that he had nothing to do with her medical training and couldn't possibly deserve the sense of pride he was feeling. Absently he reached down with his uninjured hand to brush a couple strands of her hair from her face. Unbidden, his hand grazed the side of her cheek causing the woman to shift a little in her sleep and lean ever so slightly into his touch. Realizing what he was doing, he hastily pulled his hand away from her, inwardly scolding himself for the unnecessary physical contact with his _former student_.

Still, despite the scathing remarks directed at himself, he couldn't keep his thoughts away for long and while he was contemplating the blissfully snoozing medic, the room started to spin ever so slightly to his left. Trying to rid himself of the disorienting feeling, he shook his head, finding too late it only worsened the effect. Groaning faintly as a feeling of nausea hit him, he hastily lay his head back down on the pillows and closed his eye trying to will the unpleasant sensations away. Belatedly, he realized it would probably be a while before he was back up and in mission condition with the presumably massive blood loss he had just suffered and whatever lingering marks the poison had left.

As he was doing his best imitation of a corpse to avoid the waves of nausea, he sensed rather than heard the slumbering kunoichi slowly begin to wake. He felt her hand curl into his waist, suddenly pausing in mid-stretch, the hand then tapping hesitantly about, moving onto his abdomen before retreating abruptly with a soft thud as she clearly slumped completely to the floor. If he wasn't feeling so ill he may have laughed at her sleepy reaction. Instead he continued his best imitation of sleep in hopes that she might be able to do something about his queasiness once she finally managed to wake up and come to terms with the situation at hand.

Straining his ears, he was only just able to catch several hissed curses coming from the vicinity of the floor. Again, he was barely able contain his amusement at the medic's reaction, waiting to see what else she may do, and silently hoping she would fix whatever it was that had decided to send the room spinning like a top - and soon.

* * *

Sakura woke with a pounding headache that usually signaled one of two things: either she had imbibed too much alcohol the night before, or she had over extended her chakra again.

As the pain behind her eyes eased a little, she gradually became aware of her position slumped against what felt like her bed with her head resting on her right arm and her left curled into the blanket against something firm with just a little bit of give. Groggily, she curled her fingers against the alien object in an attempt to discern what it could be, her mind not quite up to actual thought yet. Cautiously, she patted her hand against the unfamiliar object resting in her bed. All at once her memories returned to her in a rush and she pulled her hand away from her former sensei's clearly well defined lower abdomen. In her haste to remove the offending appendage, she lost her grip on the side of her bed, causing her to fall backward onto her rump with a muffled thump.

Cursing as quietly as she could, she rubbed her rear and slowly managed to get to her feet. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs that seemed to have invaded her brain sometime during the night, she moved back to her bed to take stock of the injured shinobi. Cautiously, she extended a hand gently to his forehead, extending small tendrils of chakra to assess the situation.

All too quickly, she hissed in pain and pulled her hand away to rub at her temples, murmuring to herself "Oooo, too soon. Too soon… maybe after breakfast," she looked down at her bloody hands for the first time, "_Another_ pair of pajamas ruined," she muttered to herself with a sigh, "_Definitely_ need a shower too." Her eyes returned to the shinobi, seemingly still asleep in her bed. She had thought she felt a faint twitch when she had placed her fingers on his forehead, but for whatever reason he didn't want to open his eye and show her he was awake.

Briefly, she had thoughts that he may be waiting for her to leave the room so he could make a stealthy exit. She dismissed them almost as quickly as they had occurred to her: he was clearly in no condition to be out and about yet and he was intelligent enough to realize that. At least she had to hope that he was.

Finally managing to pull her eyes from her impromptu patient, she moved to her dresser to grab some clothes before heading out to her bathroom for a well needed shower.

* * *

Hearing her exit the room and the shower start, his eye snapped open. He regarded her ceiling for a few quiet moments listening to the shower, lost in thought. Guiltily, he thought he should go and find another medic to finish the job as she was clearly still feeling the aftereffects of overextending herself the evening before. It had been all he could do to not flinch at her hiss of pain after trying to assess his condition.

Making up his mind, he lifted his head a little only to immediately set it back down on the pillow as the world started to tilt and then spin lazily once again. He sighed, but realized she would probably kill him if he took his exit anyway. All that was left for him to do now was to wait for her to return and hope she could do something about the waves of nausea that had returned without hurting herself.

While he was waiting he tried his best to forget the little scene he had witnessed the previous evening and his all too natural but still slightly disconcerting reaction to it. It only confirmed something he had known but had been unwilling to deal with for a long time and he wasn't sure if he would be able to continue to ignore it as easily as he had in the past. Or, and he kicked himself for his mutinous mind, if he really _wanted_ to continue ignoring it.

* * *

Feeling much better for the long, cool shower she had taken, she made her way back to her room. She entered only vaguely expecting him to still be there and was pleasantly surprised to find him still lying exactly where she had left him with his eye open.

"Ah, g'morning," she greeted him with a genuine smile as she moved to the side of the bed to get a better look at the still seriously injured shinobi.

He groaned softly and inched his eye in her direction without moving his head. "Might be… if room wasn't… spinning…" he hissed from between clenched teeth.

Her eyes widened in surprise, the possibility of lingering side effects had not occurred to her. "Oh! I didn't realize…" she trailed off, her eyes flitting over him, looking for additional signs of distress. "Must have been one of the side effects of the poison," she noted absently as she gathered a small amount of chakra before remembering that she couldn't. After a moment of coaxing, with the motivation of a nauseas Copy Nin laying on her bed, she moderated her energy output until she was able to manipulate at least a small portion of her chakra.

Gently, she laid her fingertips against his sweat dampened forehead and closed her eyes, focusing completely on what she was doing. Unknown to her, his eye found its way to her face, fascinated – not for the first time – with the expression of total concentration and focus as she carefully worked to assess his condition.

She let out a soft, "Ah," as she found the cause of his nausea and carefully set about removing it. Gingerly her fingers slid across his forehead and paused only slightly before continuing down the side of his cloth covered cheek, then onto and down his neck, pausing again briefly before continuing down his chest to rest lightly over his stomach. His breath caught in his throat at the soft movement of her hand before he was able to forcibly relax as he felt the nausea dissipate in the wake of her fingers.

She sighed as she removed her fingers from his abdomen, feeling her cheeks tint a little as she realized exactly what she had just done in the process of dispelling the nausea. Forcing away the faint feeling of embarrassment, she opened her eyes to focus on her former sensei. The blush returned upon finding his unreadable eye focused on her.

"Um, feeling better Kakashi?"

His eye curved in his all too familiar version of a smile, "Much."

She laughed, feeling better that he had chosen not to acknowledge her brief moment of unexplained discomfort.

"Good, I'll go make breakfast. Hopefully after some food I'll be able to finish the job." She straightened a little too quickly and found herself suddenly in great need of finding a seat on the edge of the bed, unintentionally jostling the older man. "Or maybe not…"

He chuckled at her actions, wincing slightly at the pain the movement of his chest caused him.

She sighed. "Guess I over extended myself a little more than I thought."

The medic regarded him contemplatively before narrowing her eyes in clear suspicion. Carefully, she made another attempt to stand and found that as long as she went slowly she was able to maintain her balance.

"I'm going to start breakfast…" she paused and eyed him apprehensively as she reached the door. "You _are_ going to stay put until I can finish healing you, aren't you?"

His expression suddenly took on an all too familiar not-so-innocent cast and she was forcefully reminded of the expression he reserved for explaining the particularly hellish training methods he had in his arsenal.

"Oh no you don't!" she growled before realizing that she really had no way to keep the injured, but still ex-ANBU, elite jonin in place long enough for her to recover and finish healing him. If he were completely determined to leave he could and she knew he would.

He grinned at her momentarily crestfallen expression, feeling relatively sure she couldn't quite make it out under his mask.

"I suppose promising you a homemade breakfast wouldn't be enough to get you to stay until I can heal you, would it?" she asked halfheartedly, already knowing the answer.

His silence spoke volumes to her.

"You do know it's for your own good, right?" she tried in a wheedling tone, stopping just short of batting her eyelashes at him.

He chuckled as lightly as he could at her efforts, remaining otherwise silent – he remembered all too clearly her many attempts to create food one way or another while on missions. Clearly, she had failed the cooking parts of her kunoichi classes, leaving the kitchen duties mostly up to Sasuke and himself since their ramen obsessed teammate was useless when placed in a kitchen or in front of a fire and asked to make something _other_ than instant ramen.

She huffed, knowing all too well he would take his leave as soon as the first opportunity presented itself. "So, what do I have to offer you to get you to stay…" she trailed off as she thought about it, not quite aware that she had actually just spoken that last line aloud. Her eyes slid about her room, examining everything except the silent shinobi, in the hopes of finding something that she could use as leverage.

If her eyes had found him, she would have seen a wealth of contrasting emotions crossing his lone generally inexpressive eye.

Lost in thought, her gaze fell to the previously unnoticed knapsack that lay where he had discarded it the night before. She knew for sure that it was his by the somewhat battered, but still vibrant, orange jacketed book peaking out from one of the side pockets.

"Ah!" she exclaimed as an idea hit her.

Curiously, his eye followed hers to his bag and the visible copy of Icha Icha Tactics and his brain threatened to shut down entirely at the dirty implications the presence of the volume alone was able to place in his already corrupt mind. Panic attempted to set in as numerous scenes from the novel played out in his mind – the roles of the main character taken by himself and that of the sultry seductress by his former student. Absently he wondered if she had kept the Icha Icha inspired apparel he had once been granted the pleasure of seeing her wear.

Desperately he tried to remove the inappropriate thoughts from his mind, more than annoyed with himself over the fact that it wasn't the first time he had had to forcibly remove improper thoughts about Sakura from his mind. There had been plenty of times during their long acquaintance where such unprofessional thoughts had inadvertently invaded his consciousness however he had always been careful and successful at locking them away deep in his subconscious where they could do no harm. Unfortunately, the eyeful he had received before passing out the previous evening, coupled with the tempting tease he had witnessed at the hot spring, clearly contradicted his most cherished objection to the improper thoughts: she was too young for him to be thinking of her in such a way.

He was unceremoniously jolted from his troubling musings by a small brightly colored package dancing around in front of his eye. "Eh?" He refocused on the kunoichi waving the package in front of him. Questioningly, he looked from her to the package and back again.

"Ah, now that I have your attention, I have a little proposition to make."

Barely, only just _barely_ was he able to keep his mind from falling into the gutter again; he had never been put under pressure quite like this with her before. Hastily, he pulled his mind back to his former student who had stopped speaking to give him a strange look.

"Er, go on… about the proposition?" he tried, doing his best to keep his usual calm exterior intact.

She eyed him suspiciously, wondering just what had crossed his mind for his eye to go from shock, to delight, to horror, and back so quickly. After a moment, she concluded she would probably be better off not knowing and she decided to try her bribery attempt again.

"I have here in my hand," she gestured to the brightly colored package she was holding, "what I had been planning on giving to you for your birthday. It was ridiculously difficult to track down and even harder to obtain … but I figured it would be worth it just to see the expression on your face when I gave it to you."

His gaze slid back to the small package, not quite sure what it could possibly be. If it had been a little smaller he would have no trouble identifying it as a volume of Icha Icha, though, as far as he knew, he had them all. Questioningly, he returned his gaze to the medic who was waiting patiently for him to return his attention to her so she could continue.

She flushed slightly as she continued, feeling complete and undivided attention focused on her. "I want your word of honor as a shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves that you will not leave my apartment until I say you are healthy enough to do so. In return, I will give this to you _now_ and find something else to give you for your birthday."

She eyed him, watching as he fought his curiosity. Eventually, with as little grace as he could summon, he reached for the package. She pulled it quickly from his reach. "Promise first, then present."

He sighed. "I promise on my honor as a shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves that I will not leave this apartment until you deem me fit to do so." He raised his eyebrow and waited for the package to be given to him.

Stunned she stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Uh, um, one more thing...don't ask." She flushed an attractive shade of crimson, feeling shocked that he had agreed so readily and slightly unprepared to give him his prize.

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Eh, what?" he asked wondering what she could possibly mean by the cryptic request.

She handed him the package, "Just don't ask."

He looked at her questioningly once more before his curiosity won out over her strange request. Seconds later found the colorful wrappings discarded and an expression of complete disbelief on his face.

He was holding a scarlet jacketed book slightly larger than his treasured Icha Icha volumes, graced with the title Icha Icha Eden. His wide eye found its way incredulously to her face, which he noted with some amusement almost matched the cover of the most coveted book in the entire Icha Icha series. She had somehow obtained one of the nearly mythical copies of the first Icha Icha volume Jiraiya had ever managed to have published.

Due to an unfortunate marketing error, the cover art was designed to appeal to children rather than adults, causing an enormous scandal once parents realized what their children were purchasing, ultimately culminating in one of the largest book burnings Konoha had ever seen. Consequently, few copies survived the overzealous parents. At least one of those copies resided in the possession of the author. Later, the book was rewritten, retooled, and re-released in its trademark orange jacket with clear warning as Icha Icha Paradise.

For a couple long moments, words failed him. Finally, he was able to find his mouth and ask one simple question, "How?"

She turned her eyes away from his questioning gaze, managing to turn a red several shades darker. "I don't think you really want to know."

Illogical anger seized the normally calm shinobi as possibilities crossed his mind as to just what she could have had done in exchange for the treasured dirty book. His eye hardened, causing her to subconsciously flinch away from the older man. Immediately he softened his gaze, realizing he should be thankful for his present and do as she had asked and not ask, even though he was dying to know just what she had done for the legendary book.

She huffed, realizing what he was most likely thinking. "I can almost guarantee that it is _not_ what you think, you old pervert."

He had the decency to blush at her admonition. "I'm sorry Sakura, it's just…" he trailed off, not sure where to go with his apology so as to not offend her any more than he already had.

"It's okay guess I can't really blame you for it too much considering just who I was bargaining with for it…" She moved to the door, knowing he would stay put with the treasured dirty book in his hands, but missing the almost pained expression that flashed across the silver haired shinobi's face. "I'm going to make breakfast. Hopefully some food and a bit more rest will be all I need to finish healing you."

She left the room only to return to stick her head in a moment later, "Oh, um if I'm any sort of judge of these things… Uh, that is, to be on the safe side…" she paused her face feeling as though it might explode from the extra blood coloring her skin. "Just try not to look too closely at the characters in the next Icha Icha volume, okay?" Quickly she fled to the kitchen, not wanting to hear his response or for him to see the flaming blush gracing her face.

* * *

A few moments later, he slowly and stiffly made his way into the kitchen to join her, scarlet book in hand. She turned from the stove and squeaked in dismay at seeing the injured shinobi out of bed and moving; all it would take would be one little slip and he could reopen his wounds, seriously putting himself at risk since she still didn't have enough chakra to heal him.

"Kakashi! What on _earth_ are you doing?! You shouldn't be up and about!" Quickly, she made her way to his side to help him ease himself into one of her kitchen chairs. Once he was settled, she caught a slight whiff of burning eggs and cursed as she hurried back to the stove to try and salvage breakfast.

He chuckled only to be silenced by another glare from the annoyed kunoichi.

"Well?" she asked wanting an explanation for his migration from the bedroom to the kitchen.

"Got lonely," he grunted while making a show of opening his new book and immersing himself in the dirty world contained therein.

She stared at him openmouthed for a moment before huffing to herself. Clearly, he would only make up ridiculous answers if she continued to press him on the issue. Instead of frustrating herself with the stoic ninja she surveyed the breakfast she had just ruined. Sighing, she dumped the scorched omelet and started over, feeling grateful that she had recently gone shopping and had plenty of eggs and fresh vegetables.

Once she started cooking again, he lowered his prized book to watch, surprised by her apparent facility in the kitchen. As he remembered, her cooking had definitely left something to be desired in her genin days. Watching her deftly flip an omelet, he began to suspect he, like many senseis before him, may have been duped. Vaguely he remembered hearing it happening to some of the other male jonins assigned to captain genin teams, but for some reason he hadn't thought to doubt the kunoichi assigned to _his_ team: she had seemed so guileless he hadn't found it necessary to actually check with her kunoichi skills sensei.

Several minutes later he hastily pulled his book back up in front of his eye before she turned to bring him a plate with an omelet, buttered toast and a sliced apple along with a cup of tea. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his former student.

She smiled. "No worries Kakashi, I'll just go make another omelet I'm sure that by the time I'm done you'll have finished. I promise not to look." Impishly she stuck her tongue out at the older shinobi. "It would be such a let down to finally get to see your face and have it stuffed full of food at the time."

He sighed audibly as she turned her back to him to prepare another omelet for herself and steeled himself for what appeared to be a successful omelet. Years of experience with her cooking warned him that when there was nothing obviously wrong with it, her food generally tasted worse than he could possibly imagine. After the first few bites, he realized that it hadn't killed him, he wasn't in pain, and it actually tasted quite good. Before he knew it he had finished everything on his plate.

Inwardly, he groaned. He, too, had fallen for the first trick the kunoichi skills senseis, most likely Suzume, had advised all kunoichis with male jonin leaders to utilize – under exaggerate _all_ skills related to domestic areas, otherwise get stuck doing them for as long as the team is together.

He stared at the empty plate for a moment before replacing his mask to pose a question to his former student. "Sakura," his voice reverted to the one he used when she was younger and he had caught her doing something particularly childish.

"Er, yes Sen- um, Kakashi?" she stammered. She recognized _that_ tone and realized she had just made a _big_ mistake. She would have been better off serving him the scorched mess that was her first attempt.

"Sakura, _when_ did you learn to cook?" he asked, annoyed more with himself for not discovering her little deception sooner.

He was anything but domestic. If he had known that she _could_ cook he would definitely have taken advantage of the fact. Belatedly he lamented all of the opportunities he had missed to stealthily capitalize on her domestic skills without particularly appearing to do so – all of the _many_ times she had come to his apartment to heal him came immediately to his mind. After only a couple moments of inner annoyance his mind began trying to find surreptitious ways of getting her to cook for him at the very least sometime soon, if not on something of a regular basis.

She stiffened. He could almost see the gears in her mind churning at an excruciatingly fast pace as she tried to come up with an explanation.

"Erm, I uh took a class not that long ago…" she turned, with her eyes closed, to smile brightly at the annoyed ninja sitting at her table and offer him the omelet she had just completed.

She almost heaved a sigh of relief when she felt the peace offering taken from her outstretched hand. Hastily, she turned back to the stove and started a third omelet, hoping she would be allowed to eat this one.


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Epidemic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Mega huge thank yous to everyone who has reviewed! I'm so sorry that I just don't have enough time to respond to everyone. :( Real life has kind of gotten in the way of my online life… Um, it happens I guess. I do appreciate the fact that you guys do take a few minutes to review and truly make my day though. :D

Thank yous to my wonderful betas fatpuppy and FlameTwirler! You guys know I'd never get anything posted without your help and encouragement!

Next weekend I'll be attending ConnectiCon in Hartford and will not be posting either a one shot or chapter sixteen. I will be posting a one shot the following weekend though. Also by way of a heads up, if things go as planned I will be moving within the next couple months… I'm terribly sorry, but a hiatus will be unavoidable and I don't know what sort of update schedule I will be able to stick to once I've moved or what sort of internet access I will have once I've moved. As always please check my LJ for more details, especially once I've moved.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Epidemic

She sighed in annoyance as she waited, along with two of her former teammates, on the man who would be their fourth for their upcoming mission. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Naruto shifting impatiently on her left while on her right, Sasuke stood stock still with the faintest hint of a frown as the only sign that he was at all perturbed with the delay. From what she understood, their team leader for this particular mission was not given to being late, unlike a certain former sensei of theirs and she was beginning to worry just a little bit about the man's safety.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden entrance of the hokage's assistant, completely out of breath. She stood for a moment, calming her breathing before eyeing the hokage nervously.

"Tsunade, I've just come from the hospital… Raido will _not_ be able to lead this team on the mission."

The busty blonde woman's eyes widened along with those of the three other waiting shinobi. "And just what may I ask has happened to incapacitate him?"

Shizune edged back a bit, eyeing the waiting shinobi a little uneasily. "Um, well, you see, it seems there was a little accident while he was sparring with a couple of the off duty jonin last night and for some reason his condition is turning out to be unusually difficult to heal… Something about tangled jutsu I think it was?"

Tsunade sighed audibly. She should have expected this, especially in light of her relatively recent discussion with a certain silver haired shinobi who happened to not only be in the village, but also unassigned.

"Sakura, go to the hospital and attend to Raido; I suspect you'll be able to deal with whatever is blocking the healing process – you did very well the last time you handled tangled jutsu."

Quickly and without question, the pink haired woman took her leave, already guessing what could be wrong with the bodyguard specialist, but not sure what it meant.

As her former student took her leave, the hokage turned her gaze on the two men in front of her. "You may go for now. I will have you summoned back once I have straightened this mess out and found a captain for your team."

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, shrugged and exited the room in search of an early lunch.

Once the two young men had taken their leave, the hokage turned to her assistant, her anger beginning to surface. "Get me Kakashi, _now_."

* * *

He turned a page, his eyes focused on the book in front of him, but not actually taking in the information on the page. The Copy Ninja was reclining in one of his favorite trees on one of the lesser used training grounds. He knew they would be looking for him for the better part of the day and had decided not to make it _too_ easy for them to find him.

Inattentively he turned another page as he realized he had been found. He could feel a familiar presence as it settled a little further along on his branch. Slowly, he looked up from his book into the flustered eyes of the hokage's assistant, Shizune.

"Kakashi, I've been looking _all over_ for you!" she exclaimed with exasperation clear in her voice.

"Oh? I've been here reading my book all afternoon."

The annoyed woman glared at him. "Tsunade requests your presence, _now_. Like, _four hours_ ago now…"

He sighed, having expected something of this sort to happen. "Okay, I'll be on my way shortly… Almost done with this chapter…."

Having had enough Shizune carefully curbed her temper. "_Now_ means _now_ Kakashi."

"Okay, okay I'm coming." He rose to his feet and dropped to the ground without removing his eyes from his little orange book and started off toward the Hokage Tower with the slightly older woman in tow.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door to Tsunade's office, bracing himself for the tirade he knew would be forthcoming.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." He smiled knowing that she would be just as angry with him whether or not he apologized.

The busty blonde woman looked up from the scroll she had been marking, her gaze turning dark as she recognized just who had finally decided to make an appearance.

"Kakashi," she growled, setting aside the scroll. "What the _hell_ did you do to Raido?" She asked without any sort of preamble.

"Eh? Raido?" he asked as innocently as possible, knowing she wouldn't believe him.

"Yes, you know Raido… the man who was supposed to take your former team out today on an important and _time sensitive_ mission… the bodyguard specialist…" she trailed off waiting for some sort of confirmation from the stoic man.

"Oh, yes Raido… What about him now?" He asked fully aware that he was walking a fine line between seriously pissing her off and just merely annoying her further.

She glared at him, his expression of total ignorance and innocence complete and believable – to those who had never dealt with the elite jonin before. She knew better than to trust him.

"Kakashi, Raido is unable to lead a team on an urgent and essential mission today since he sustained some rather serious and suspicious injuries while sparring with an unnamed jonin last night… Now, you're telling me that you don't know _anything_ about this?"

"Oh, now that's just too bad. I hope you can find a replacement for him," he murmured, safe in the knowledge that _he_ hadn't been the one sparring with Raido. In fact, he hadn't been anywhere _near_ the training grounds the previous evening, and had several friends who would swear he was at the pub with them casually drinking the evening away. However, that _didn't_ mean that he hadn't had a few words with a couple of the jonin who _would_ be training with Raido that evening.

She eyed him angrily, knowing he had something to do with the incident, but unable to actually _prove_ anything without some sort of tangible evidence. The fact that Kakashi had objected strenuously the day before upon hearing just _who_ would be taking his former team on the mission was circumstantial at best, and she didn't have any other evidence of him somehow interfering with the assignment of the mission. Finally, something snapped and she sighed, knowing he would never admit to whatever it was that he had done and that Sakura would neither confirm nor deny that whatever it was that had been done to Raido was something that only Kakashi was able to do. Whoever had dubbed him the master of over one thousand jutsu wasn't kidding as the man certainly knew more than his share of strange and obscure techniques.

"_Damnit,_ Kakashi, if you wanted the mission so badly you should have just come right out and _said_ _so_… But you _should_ know that Raido is more than competent in his specialty – he _was_ the correct choice for this mission."

His face remained impassive. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I know Raido is one of the best bodyguards in the village. Otherwise he would not have served the Third in that capacity."

"Then why are you so disinclined to allow your former team to work under him?" Her eyes narrowed, "If this has anything to do with your medic, she couldn't be in better hands than his, you know."

He shrugged noncommittally. "If you say so."

She huffed again as she realized she was just _not_ going to get the man to admit that he didn't trust Raido with Sakura after what had happened the _last_ time he had done so. Now she was stuck with a time sensitive assignment in need of a captain. Contrarily, she didn't want to give in and give Kakashi the mission, since that was clearly what he had been angling for. But her inner voice of reason cautioned her that if she didn't give him the assignment, the next jonin would suffer similar consequences, as would the next and the one after that until he was finally assigned to the mission.

Sighing in defeat, she rummaged about on her desk for a moment before producing a scroll and tossing it at him.

"I want to be absolutely clear on this," she said making sure to catch his eye. "I will _not_ allow this to happen again. If you have a problem with mission assignments come and discuss it with me, and if you still have a problem after that – _tough shit_."

He stared blankly at her. She shook her head, knowing it was a lost cause.

"The mission is fairly easy in concept, but has been difficult to actually complete. I've already lost one medic, had two more severely injured, and a fourth completely ruined for all further medical work after a collapse from combined exhaustion and chakra over exertion. Since you will be taking Raido's place, _you_ will make sure nothing happens to Sakura. You are to stay with her at all times, _no_ exceptions." She eyed him seriously wondering if it came down to Sakura's wellbeing and his dirty orange books how much of an effort it may take him to make the right decision.

"There is an epidemic of some sort of fortified influenza or something similar to it just across our boarder in the Land of Rain. The local Lord has decided we will eliminate the threat before our people become infected and are directly involved. Unfortunately, it would appear that the disease itself is the legacy of a rogue medic and though we _can_ treat those who are infected, it takes much more out of a medic than most other known diseases to date. To cut down on the risk of either of you catching it, you will be staying in a small hotel in a nearby _un_infected village – don't anger the owner as it is the _only_ hotel in the village and it is the _only_ unaffected village within easy walking distance of the infected villages. Naruto and Sasuke are going to accompany you to the area, but will be spending their time trying to locate and deal with the rogue medic and his or her base of operations by whatever means necessary. In the mean time, Sakura will treat the villagers and ensure the epidemic is stopped before it crosses over into the Land of Fire.

"So far the accompanying shinobi I've sent have had a hard time locating the medic in question. Unfortunately, when medics go bad, they can become nasty pieces of work with their extensive medical knowledge to back up their misdeeds. This one seems to be particularly adept at psychology and predicting the movements of trackers as well as disguising themselves and their scent. None of the teams we have sent so far have been able to find even traces of where the misbehaving medic has holed up. Naruto and Sasuke will have their work cut out for them, but I am confident that they will succeed where others have failed. I expect for them to check in with you and Sakura every couple of days to ensure everyone's safety." She sighed more to herself than to the man in front of her. "I will admit that I originally underestimated the magnitude of this particular threat and now it has gotten rather more serious than it should have – which is why I'm sending Naruto and Sasuke to deal with it."

She made sure to catch his eye to stress the importance of her next statement. "Since I've _already_ permanently lost two medics and had two more seriously incapacitated, I would like to stress how important it is that you don't let Sakura out of your sight, regardless of whatever objections she may have – and I'm sure she will have plenty. You are also to keep an eye on her chakra usage and make sure she doesn't overdo it. You know as well as I do that her sense of self preservation tends to take a back seat when there are others in need of her services. Generally that's what makes a good medic. Unfortunately in this situation it can easily lead to a dead medic since there will _always_ be more people in need of her than she has chakra for the first couple weeks at the very least." The older woman shook her head sadly. She knew from first hand experience how difficult dealing with an outbreak could be and how hard it was to stop when chakra ran low and there were still many people in need.

Pushing the problems of preventing an epidemic from her mind, she continued in another vein. "Sakura doesn't know it, but she has recently become a much more valuable resource to this village than she or anyone else for that matter realizes. The research she has completed so far into transplanted and unnaturally acquired kekkei genkai alone is invaluable, never mind the potential value of the other areas of research she will be prepared for once she completes her currant assignment…" she trailed off thinking about some of the rather interesting possibilities the kunoichi had in mind when she started her research before shaking her head to continue. "If I had _any_ other competent medics available I wouldn't be risking her on this sort of mission."

His eye widened a little at her last statement. He hadn't realized how far she had advanced within the ranks of the medics or that her research was much broader than he had originally guessed. He had been fairly certain that it wasn't focused _completely_ on his transplanted Sharingan and that she seemed to have some sort of ultimate goal involving his experience with a kekkei genkai that did not belong to him. But he hadn't really thought that she was working on such a large scale. Silently he nodded his head as he broke the seal on the scroll and quickly scanned it, finding the details as Tsunade had mentioned.

"The sooner you leave the better, as the longer it takes to nullify this threat, the more innocent people will suffer and die." She checked her clock, "It would probably be best if you leave tomorrow morning at first light. I'll need to talk to Sakura a little about this disease and brief her on the notes the other medics have brought back with them. What she will be doing will be _completely_ draining–unfortunately, this can't afford to wait for another experienced medic to return to the village or become available."

He nodded. "I'll go find Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto and let them know about the mission. Should I tell Sakura you would like to see her?"

The blonde woman shook her head. "Not necessary. She will come back once she has finished with Raido." She checked the clock again, frowning as she realized just how long the pink haired medic had been gone. "_Damnit,_ Kakashi! What the _hell_ did you do to that poor man anyway?! She has been gone for _hours_ now!"

Catching himself before he could admit to anything incriminating he shrugged. "Don't ask _me_. I wasn't the one sparring with him."

After he took his leave she sighed trying to let her annoyance at the man fade. She knew he _had_ to have had _something_ to do with Raido's recent incapacitation, but she had no way of actually proving it. She was also upset that she didn't quite know what she should do about it. The blonde woman had already warned him once that his attachment to his former female student was unhealthy and would only end poorly if he didn't catch himself.

Inwardly she had to wonder. The last time she had spoken to Jiraiya he had brought up what she had thought of at the time as a ridiculous observation. Taking into account Kakashi's most recent actions she had to force herself to reconsider – and if she found some truth to the perverted man's observations, she would have to figure out what to do about it.

* * *

"Kakashi," she sighed exasperatedly. "I _do_ know what I am doing and I _can_ take care of myself you know."

He shrugged unapologetically. "Boss lady's orders, you're not leaving my sight."

"I understand that, but do you _really_ have to come with me on my rounds?" she eyed him wearily – trying to see him through the villagers eyes and finding that she couldn't blame the shyer inhabitants for their fear since from whatever angle she looked at him he just plain exuded danger and menace. "You're scaring some of the more timid folk, and they'll never let me heal them if they're too terrified of _you_."

"Sorry, Sakura, your safety is more important than a few villagers who may be frightened of me… Which is as it should be, three of your four predecessors sent here ran into the rogue medic. Since Naruto and Sasuke have so far been able to locate and deal with the enemy it is very likely that you will run into him or her too. _I'm_ here for when that happens, since you're not likely to be in any sort of condition to deal with a local punk off the street, never mind someone with serious training."

She narrowed her eyes at him and she opened her mouth to protest, only to be interrupted before she could continue arguing with him.

"No, I agree that you _do_ know you can take care of yourself. But I _have_ had to carry you back to the hotel every night since we got here _and_ make sure you actually stop to eat three times a day _and_ sleep for a decent amount of time every night." He chuckled hoping to embarrass her into letting the matter drop. "The woman at the front desk even told me that it was good of me to be so attentive to my young wife – said it was the best chance a dirty old man like me would ever have to keep a pretty young thing like you – but that it was a little over the top for me to carry you in _every_ evening."

The pink haired medic, forgetting her anger for the moment turned to look at her former sensei with shock clearly written on her face. "She said _what_?" Sakura had heard almost every oddball conjuncture about herself and her former sensei while they were on missions that she could ever have imagined but no one had _ever_ mistaken them for a married couple before.

He laughed at her reaction, "I suspect that if her eyesight was a little better she would have noticed that you've been unconscious the last three times I've brought you back and may have reconsidered her comments." He paused with a twinkle in his eye and couldn't resist adding just to tweak her nose a little, "Although she could just be guessing that I'm wearing you out during the day somewhere secluded…"

Her eyes widened even more and her face, which was already scarlet with embarrassment, managed to turn a couple shades deeper. "_KAKASHI_!!" she exclaimed as she tossed one of the strong metal tins containing the necessary medicinal items from her larger medical kit at his head.

He laughed and easily caught the tin. "Easy there, Sakura. I'm kidding. That old woman probably has no idea what to make of us coming and going at all hours with Naruto and Sasuke dropping by every couple days to report in, check on your progress and scare away any of the local men who may have ideas about you." His face turned serious for a moment. "Besides, whatever it is that she thinks we should probably humor her if she ever mentions it. This is the only hotel in the only unaffected village anywhere close to the infected area. If she were to take it into her head to throw us out we'd have a hard time finding accommodations elsewhere and with the state you've been in lately camping is _not_ an option."

She sighed. "You're right, but do you really have to come with me _every_ time I go?" she whined, knowing the answer, but hoping if she kept asking he may change his mind.

"Is there someone you don't want me to meet, Sakura?" he asked as lightly as he could though a small part of him was irrationally seething at the idea.

Her flush returned. "Er, no. _No,_ of course not! I'm just sure that you must be bored out of your mind watching me heal people all day."

He shook his head and smiled. "Nope, not at all if it means keeping my teammate safe." He ruffled her hair, much to her annoyance. "Now, are you ready to go?"

She paused for a moment, knowing defeat when she felt it. "Okay, okay I'm ready."

They made their way from their room past the squat old woman tending the front desk of their hotel. From the corner of her eye Sakura noticed the woman grinning toothlessly at her former sensei and her face colored as she realized he may not have been entirely kidding about what the woman thought they were after all.

* * *

As she was finished with the last of the worst cases for the day, her chakra low, but not depleted, she felt a deep sense of satisfaction in that she was finally making some progress. Tsunade had been correct; the healing techniques needed to cope with the artificially fortified disease were incredibly draining and despite her complaints, she was glad to have someone there with her when she finished.

She didn't even have to ask for his help most of the time as he usually could sense what ever it was she wanted or needed from him: food, a hand to pull her to her feet, his aid in returning to the hotel, or as often as not someone to sleep on. Though much to her embarrassment he had felt it necessary to carry her back to the hotel _every_ evening whether she wanted him to or not. Granted, she wasn't exactly complaining as the last thing she wanted to do after spending the day, and almost all of her chakra, healing the sick villagers was to walk several miles back to their hotel _before_ she could give in to sleep. Falling asleep in his arms as he made his way back to the hotel was a much more preferable way of traveling in her mind – though thoroughly embarrassing if anyone were ever to find out. Definitely something she would like to keep from Naruto and Sasuke.

When he stepped closer to her, to pick her up, she assumed, she waved him off. "I can and would like to walk." She flushed a little at his obvious displeasure at her assertion and hastily amended her statement, "Well, for a little while anyway."

He eyed her suspiciously but shrugged – not wanting to give himself away as he had been, to his inner disgust, very much enjoying the excuse to touch her in a slightly more intimate manner than what their current relationship would usually allow. There was also the fact that the little old biddy who ran the hotel they were staying at _did_ think that he was a dirty old man, but that he was so smitten with the younger woman she could hardly object. He had done all he could to encourage her incorrect assumption. The older woman was a large fan of lurid romance novels and she seemed to enjoy the idea of having one of the most clichéd plots playing out in front of her in her own hotel, though he had _no_ intentions of ever telling Sakura that.

"Okay, let's head back then." Inwardly, he figured he would keep a closer eye on her than usual and make a grab for her if she didn't seem like she could make it under her own power.

Leisurely, they made their way back to the hotel, passing through the deep woods surrounding and separating the two villages from each other. About halfway through, in the area that seemed to have the thickest undergrowth, the older man cursed under his breath; a moment later she joined him. They were being followed, and Sakura knew she _really_ wasn't in any condition to fight. She could walk and that was about it, if anything actually happened she would be nothing more than a troublesome burden to Kakashi.

Nonchalantly, he knelt down to toy with his sandal strap by the side of the path with the deepest undergrowth. Sakura wondered for only a moment what he was doing before hastily joining him, moving directly to the side of him, effectively blocking him from sight of anyone behind them.

To cover Kakashi's movements she sighed impatiently. "What _now_?"

He murmured something placating to her, his tone too low for someone watching to distinguish his actual words.

The kunoichi shook her head with annoyance. "I knew you should have gone for those new sandals at that last village… Honestly, old man, someone _your_ age should know better…"

As Sakura rambled on about sandals and the inconvenience his were causing her he quickly and quietly summoned his oft used pug – hissed directions into the little canine's ear before releasing the dog into the underbrush. Once he was finished, he rose and started forward once again.

With a huff and her hands on her hips she joined him, wondering what their plan would be since he hadn't felt it necessary to elaborate. Inwardly, she shrugged, trusting that he had the situation under control and would let her know if he needed something from her.

Several moments later they sensed the unknown enemy close in on them. The two shinobi tensed, waiting for their watcher to make his or her move. They didn't have too long to wait as a young woman stepped onto the path ahead of them. She was beautiful to Sakura's critical eye. Inwardly, she groaned; why couldn't the enemy be _un_attractive for once? As she wondered what their course of action would be and if she should be concerned, she felt herself firmly pulled behind her former sensei.

"Stay out of this Sakura," his voice though light, was all business and brooked no nonsense.

Inwardly, she heaved a sigh of relief he was ready to protect her from the enemy. She didn't let her guard down though, knowing that could be a fatal mistake as they still weren't sure if their enemy was alone or had brought company with her. Oddly enough, the woman didn't particularly seem inclined to make a move, which was slightly worrying as it probably meant one thing; she was buying time for her accomplices to surround them. Instead, she took her time to study the two shinobi before, seemingly scrutinizing every little detail of their appearances, postures, and actions. Sakura found it more than slightly disconcerting.

Finally, the unknown woman opened her mouth to speak to them, "Now isn't that precious," she twisted her pretty features into an ugly sneer. "The old man thinks he's going to protect his little medic," her voice dripped with sarcasm and something else not as easily identified, "So sweet it could make me sick."

In the blink of an eye the woman disappeared only to reappear a just behind them with three dripping senbon in each hand secured between her fingers and ready to strike. Or rather she would be ready to strike if her target had been there. The moment she had disappeared, Kakashi had urged Sakura onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist, and formed a rapid series of hand seals transporting them as far toward the hotel as the jutsu allowed. As soon as he had his bearings, he immediately took to the trees – his first priority was to keep Sakura safe with a secondary objective to take out the rogue medic if and only if the opportunity presented itself. As much as he hated leaving an enemy behind him, he didn't want to risk Sakura's safety in a fight.

He could feel the woman following them and though he couldn't sense her gaining ground, he still treated her as an active threat that may strike at any moment. The elite jonin continued along in the branches of the trees, angling off in one direction and then another to try and shake his pursuit. Just as he thought he may have made some progress in losing the rogue medic, he was forced to come to an abrupt halt. The bridge, over a particularly violent set of rapids extending as far as he could see in either direction, had been destroyed. Inwardly, he cursed as he realized that they had been set up – she had expected him to run and had let him. Now he was out in the open in an indefensible position with a medic who was unable to defend herself.

Kakashi turned, to face the woods he had just exited, his eyes scanning the tree line searching for the enemy medic. He knew that she wasn't in his class and that he could easily take her out; unfortunately having Sakura as good as out of commission complicated things a little. If she had been just about any other shinobi or client he probably would have risked setting her down so he could fight unhindered, but something in him just couldn't do it.

As he was contemplating his next move, his charge squirmed a little against his back, attempting to unwrap her legs from his waist and trying to extricate herself from his firm grasp. Curiously he turned his head slightly to ascertain what she was doing.

"Let go, Kakashi, you can fight better without me weighing you down…" she squeaked in surprise as the arms holding her legs tightened instead of loosening as he had expected.

"No, not an option," he almost growled, more than aware of how tightly she had been clutching him since he had pulled her onto his back. She knew she had little chance of defending herself on her own – he could feel it in the way she had been subconsciously clinging to him – and he had no intentions of letting her down.

She was about to ask him what he would suggest they do when the woman appeared again, sauntering from the woods and clearly very pleased with herself.

"So… I should be flattered that Leaf has sent the legendary Copy Ninja after such a little nuisance as myself… but somehow I find that I am not." The woman flicked her long dark hair over her shoulder in a dismissive motion, as though she was dismissing more than just her hair as an annoyance.

Sakura shivered at the complete lack of warmth or even life in the woman's voice subconsciously pulling herself a little closer to the man supporting her on his back. The dark haired woman sounded, like so many of the shinobi gone bad Sakura had heard over the years, teetering right on the very edge of sanity.

The unnamed woman chuckled coldly. "Looks like you've gone soft in your dotage old man, refusing to allow the medic to fend for herself at the probable cost to your own wellbeing." She sneered. "Pathetic. You should thank me for doing you this favor of killing you honorably in combat… Otherwise, I would suspect you will probably come to an ignoble end during some mundane activity." Her sneer turned to a smirk, "You're past your prime grandpa, what with something like 30 years of service to your village… Reduced to playing nursemaid and protector to a child medic… You're just pitiable."

Kakashi's arms tightened again, the only sign of the medic's words cutting a little too close for his comfort. Steeling himself, he chose not to respond. Instead he kept his mind working on how to quickly dispose of the woman without leaving his kunoichi open to attack from any additional enemies she may have brought with her. He couldn't sense any other presences, but by no means did that mean that there _weren't_ any. Since the woman was clearly taking her time to toy with them a little he figured she was setting _something_ in motion while she was doing her best to distracting him.

Before he could make a move, three familiar presences made themselves known to him as his dark haired former student stepped out from the woods behind the rogue medic. The blonde materialized next to the inwardly seething jonin along with his summons.

"Can't let you have _all_ the fun, Kakashi." The Uchiha smirked. He had been looking for a fight and now he had finally found a real one. "Those henchmen of hers didn't put up enough resistance to be worth the effort we went through tracking them down and silently taking them out… This one, on the other hand, looks like she might be a little more fun."

Kakashi, feeling relief at suddenly having the means to get Sakura out of harms way, turned to the blonde man standing next to him, finally allowing the woman to slip down from his back to the ground. "Naruto, take Sakura back to the hotel and wait for us to return. _Do not_ leave her under _any_ circumstances. Pakkun will go with you to find a way around the river." He knew Tsunade had told him no exceptions, but the rogue medic had cut a little too close to some of his darkest fears for him to be able to turn his back on her so easily. Even with Sakura's wellbeing at stake, he felt secure in his decision to have Naruto escort her back to the hotel.

The enthusiastic man looked as though he wanted to complain but thought better of it after taking in his female friend's drained state. Instead, he nodded and reached out to the exhausted medic. He realized that protecting her was just as important, perhaps more considering his longtime friendship with her, as taking down the rogue medic.

With a sigh of frustration and annoyance she allowed herself to be picked up and taken by her blonde friend back to the hotel before the rogue medic could launch whatever attack she may have planned. The pink haired woman knew that she would be nothing more than a hindrance and possibly a distraction in her current state, but that didn't stop her from wishing she could be there with them and help take her down. Instead she would have to satisfy herself with the knowledge that she was taking down the woman's 'gift' to the villages in the area instead.

Wistfully she turned her head as best she could to see how her other two teammates were going to handle the enemy medic. She needn't have turned as the sounds of her former sensei's trademark jutsu filled the air shortly followed by a second chorus of birdsong signaling both men were deadly serious about taking their target out for good.

* * *

He awoke feeling foggy and confused; his body seemed to be sprawled in a not particularly comfortable position on what he could only guess was the floor. Though mentally he amended his thought as he felt something he could only vaguely think of as nice and comforting. He concentrated on the sensation and after a moment was able to identify it as someone slowly running a hand though his hair. Without thinking he sighed and relaxed, leaning into the enjoyable sensation and allowing his mind to drift pleasantly.

After several moments something really started to bother him and he realized it was it was most likely the uncomfortable position he found himself in coupled with the fact that his entire body ached and he had no idea why. He was fairly certain it wasn't _completely_ due to the painful position he found himself in. Concentrating a little more he gradually began to discern which dull pain belonged to each of his limbs. His arms seemed to be wrapped tightly around something firm but still soft while most of the rest of him, aside from his head, upper chest and one of his legs, seemed to be on the floor. He groaned softly as he started to shift himself a little, noting that the hand seemed to have stopped moving through his hair, and a part of him _really_ wished it hadn't.

Groggily he lifted his head just a little and cracked open his natural eye just enough to take in his surroundings. Frowning a little he puzzled over the immediate sight that met his eye – what seemed to be two red fabric covered… Hastily he lifted his head higher to meet the gaze of a flushing but still clearly amused medic partially propped up on her elbows, horror struck as he realized that she was _under_ him.

As quickly as he could he disentangled his arms from her waist, pulled his leg off of hers and pushed himself onto his knees in a sitting position between her legs, completely removing himself from her. He sat for a moment, his head spinning with the effort of moving himself so quickly and the combination of assorted aches and pains wreaking havoc on his nervous system. After a couple minutes he was able to shake the disorienting sensations and return his gaze to Sakura.

Feeling entirely embarrassed since he had no idea how he had ended up practically pinning her to the floor with his face firmly pressed into her abdomen, he lifted a hand to the back of his neck, trying hard not to flinch at the dull throbbing of pain the movement caused him. "Er…" he tried looking for the right thing to say and hoped like hell that she wouldn't take offense at his apparent unconscious actions.

A rather large portion of his mind panicked, wondering if he had tried to act upon some of the inappropriate thoughts and feelings he had been having more and more trouble keeping under wraps. He had no memories whatsoever of… _anything_… Thinking about it, he remembered sending Sakura away with Naruto and Pakkun from the impending fight against the rogue medic, but then… _nothing_.

She watched as the conflicting emotions she so rarely saw the older man express flickered across the visible portion of his face. Deciding to take pity on the clearly concerned shinobi she chuckled. "Sleeping Beauty awake at last?" she asked with what he was relieved to identify as a teasing lilt to her voice.

Deciding to start with the easiest questions and build his way up the harder ones he started with one of the most obvious. "Um… how long…" He tried.

She waved her hand negligently. "Don't worry about it."

He frowned as a few things didn't quite add up in his foggy mind. "Why didn't you just shove me off?"

She sighed, "Couldn't – no strength or chakra. I used the last of it treating you after Sasuke brought you back on the brink of death a couple days ago… You may be lean, but you're all muscle and _way_ too heavy for me to move without augmenting my strength…" She flushed a little and was barely able to suppress a giggle, as embarrassing as it was she could still find amusement in the situation. "Besides you have a really strong grip. Even if I had been able to shift you off me I would still have a heck of a time getting you to _let go_. Far easier in the end to wait for you to wake up on your own."

He had the decency to flush a little as he nodded, it sounded just like her, but it still didn't shed any light on how they had ended up on the floor. "But that still doesn't explain how…"

She laughed, hoping he would buy her light explanation. She did not want him to know _just_ how frightening he had been the previous evening and that she had actually been a little afraid of him. "Sasuke brought you back after the fight with that rogue medic two days ago very, _very_ sick. The last chidori you used to take her out ruptured a vial of the toxin she was using to spread the virus and you received a… _near_ fatal dose of it…" Her cheeks colored a little at the memory, "I was able to get it under control and drive it from your system, but it left _both_ of us exhausted, you've been mostly asleep since then – so have I for that matter. Last night you got out of bed, delusional I think… Or maybe you were having nightmares I really couldn't say which." She shook her head, not wanting him to know how close he had come to attacking her. "Regardless, I had to use what little chakra I had recuperated to knock you out again before you caused any trouble. Unfortunately I didn't _quite_ think my way through what I was doing and was unable to get out from under or support you when you fell."

"Eh, sorry about that… Can't imagine what could have come over me…" Rather unsteadily he rose to his feet wanting to give the poor medic some space.

"Don't worry about it, you were and _still are_ _very_ sick. It's completely not your fault." She shifted a little and grimaced as if in pain before sighing. She looked back up at him. "Could you give me a hand?" She extended a hand up to the still unsteady man.

Inwardly he frowned at her request for help. He could barely stay on his feet, as a healer she must know that. Gamely he took her hand and pulled her to her feet with a slight grunt, noting her flinch in pain as she put weight on her right foot.

She blushed under his scrutiny – not wanting to tell him that he had once again sprained her ankle. Carefully she limped to a chair, feeling his eyes on her as she moved. She sighed when she finally met his gaze.

"I'm fine Kakashi and it's _not_ your fault. As soon as I have enough chakra to spare I'll fix it." She shook her head at his pained look. "Now _you_ on the other hand are still _very_ sick, get back into bed – I'm surprised you've been awake as long as you have." She pointed at one of the two beds in the room. "Naruto and Sasuke will probably be back in a day or so. They went to check out the rogue medic's base of operations – now that she is gone, the jutsu she had been using to keep it hidden and confound those looking for it has dissolved and they were easily able to locate it."

Finding that he _was_ fading fast, the silver haired man complied and gingerly sunk onto the closest bed, sighing as he settled into the soft blankets. Despite his distress at causing her so much trouble, he found his eyelids drooping closed as sleep claimed him almost before his head touched the pillow. His last thought as he was drifting off to sleep was that he had accidentally fallen into her bed as the bedding smelled of the same light floral scent he associated with her and an unseen smiled formed on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

Sakura watched him fall asleep in her bed with a sigh of relief. She had been afraid he might do something foolish upon waking to find the two of them in such a compromising position. Or worse, for Naruto and Sasuke to return and find them like that. Absently she chalked it up to the virus he had been infected with – she knew it would take another couple days before it left his system entirely and he could really begin to recover. In the mean time, she figured she too could use some sleep, or at the very least a nap. Carefully she hobbled to the vacant bed and eased herself into it, smiling as she inhaled her former sensei's comforting scent still lingering on the sheets. As long as she had known him, his scent had never failed to make her feel safe and secure, and she was happy to realize that it probably never would.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Interlude

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has been reading and has reviewed! I'm truly am sorry that right now I just don't have the free time to respond to everyone. :( I genuinely do appreciate the time taken to review though, and it does keep me going through the harder chapters to write! Thank you!

As always mega huge thank yous to my wonderful betas fatpuppy and FlameTwirler! You guys have been fantastically patient with some of my messier chapters and horribly short deadlines! I also want to say thanks to AvidReaderAlso for assuaging some of my fears about the structure of the ending – I feel much better about it now, thank you! (Um, just to mention it I didn't tell her the ending, just asked for her opinion on the structure of the fic…)

My moving date has been moved back to September or October. I'm hoping I'll know just when I'll be leaving soon. (Not knowing is just killing me!) Regardless I will keep writing and posting right up until I move, after that I will have to go on hiatus but will do my best to get back online and writing as soon as possible. Thank you for the support and understanding in this:D

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Interlude

Leisurely she made her way into the hospital, early for her shift and in no particular hurry. She smiled and nodded her greeting to the nurses at the front desk and continued on her way. Slowly it dawned on her as she made her way to her office that everyone she met seemed to be smiling at her in the strange way that she had come to associate with a visit from her 'secret admirer.' Subconsciously she hurried her step, anxious to see what the infuriating man had done this time.

Cautiously she opened her office door, knowing there would be something out of place on her desk. Upon entering, her suspicions were confirmed. Sitting on her desk, under an enormous bow, was a rather large spiral bound book. Curiously she lifted the decoration examine the gift. A small scrap of paper fluttered down to rest on top of the book as she moved the bow. Knowing she would regret it, she lifted the note and read:

'To make up for lost time?'

He was getting bolder –or less cautious –with his gifts as he had signed the little scrap of paper with a smiley face with a slash through its left eye. For a moment she wondered if he wanted to get caught, before shoving the thought aside as ridiculous.

She found her eyes automatically drawn to the book to try and guess what he could possibly mean but then realized that no deep deduction skills were needed: it was a cookbook. Momentarily her hands clenched, crumpling the tiny note, though almost immediately her hands relaxed. As angry as she wanted to be with his impertinent gift, she had to admit that she sort of deserved it. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself a little and picked up the book to flip through and as she did so she noticed many of the pages had smiley faces similar to the one he had used to sign his note – for her convenience, he had marked all his favorites.

She groaned and wondered what kind of a door she had opened when she had let it slip to him that she could cook.

* * *

She casually covered her mouth to stifle a yawn as she opened her mailbox in search of the previous day's mail. She had worked a double the day before and hadn't bothered getting the previous day's delivery before heading to her apartment and into her bed, though not before depositing her new cookbook in her kitchen. On her way up the stairs, she shuffled through the envelopes, absentmindedly sorting the junk mail from the bills and other important items. As she was unlocking her door, she came across something that stopped her in her tracks – another envelope addressed to her in the strange block letters she had come to dread.

Recovering quickly, she hurried into her apartment, remembering to close and lock the door behind her. Upon reaching the kitchen, she dumped the rest of her carefully sorted mail onto the table. Dread filling her stomach, she cautiously slit the envelope and pulled the contents out – yet another Polaroid of her dream guardian. This time, he was propped up against a tropical tree on a beach somewhere without his vest, over and undershirt, forehead protector and mask. However, the photographer had somehow 'accidentally' gotten the camera strap in the frame, covering the lower portion of Kakashi's face.

She groaned. For the life of her she couldn't quite figure out who was doing this to her. After careful consideration she had decided that it had to be someone who knew her fairly well and had visited her while she was sick – since that was when the dream guardian had gone missing. This left a rather narrow field of suspects and the most obvious, Naruto and Sasuke were pretty much out of the question, leaving a handful of medics, Tsunade, Shizune, Ino and another person she was fairly confident she could eliminate, Kakashi himself. No matter which way she approached the question of whom, she just couldn't quite pin it on any one of the most likely suspects, leaving her frustrated to no end. The pink haired women _almost_ wished her subtle blackmailer would cut to the chase already and make some sort of a demand; _anything_ had to be better than finding yet another Polaroid in her mailbox with some sort of cheesy yet potentially cryptic message on the back.

Steeling herself, she flipped the photo to read the strange block lettering:

'Sakura

Found a nice beach and decided to work a little on my tan. Thought of you when the sun set and turned the sky a lovely shade of pink. Hope you're doing well.

Yours,

Kakashi'

Before she had a moment to react someone knocked on her door. Starting guiltily, she hastily shoved the offending photograph into her junk drawer before hurrying to answer the door.

* * *

Annoyed, Kakashi made one more sweep of the building looking for the ever elusive landlord. He couldn't believe how difficult it could be to track down a simple civilian – he was an elite, an elite who _specialized_ in tracking. Yet for some reason, whenever he set out to find Hideki, the uncooperative man was nowhere to be found. Sure, he could break down and summon Pakkun or one of his other ninken, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to go to such lengths to set his former student up with another man. Besides, he rationalized, he would never hear the end of it from Pakkun – summoning him for such a frivolous reason, and for a civilian no less!

A small part of him brought up the question of whether he might be subconsciously sabotaging himself each time he set out to find Sakura's landlord. Hastily he shoved the inner observation aside even as a smaller portion of him knew it was right. The last thing he wanted to deal with – ever – was the fact that he was slowly realizing just how much the pink haired kunoichi meant to him and that it was getting harder and harder not to act on his suppressed feelings.

Troubling thoughts aside, he finished a final tour of the locations Hideki could usually be found. Upon finding nothing, he decided to drop by Sakura's apartment on his way out to see if he might mooch a breakfast from her; he didn't really expect her to be in, but figured that it was worth a shot. Leisurely, he made his way to her door, paused and knocked.

A couple moments later the door opened to reveal a very flustered Sakura. With some amusement he watched the color drain from her face as she recognized him. He couldn't guess what had happened for him to receive this sort of a reaction; regardless he still enjoyed it.

"Kakashi! What a pleasant surprise… Um, would you like to come in?" she appeared to recover quickly as he entered her apartment and her eyes narrowed as she remembered his latest gift. "You're too late for breakfast if that's why you're here…"

"Aw Sakura, I'm disappointed that you think so little of me," he managed to sound hurt by her supposedly incorrect assumption.

She flushed faintly and he inwardly grinned, knowing her chagrin wouldn't last long as the fabricated reason for his visit would be sure to irritate her to no end.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi, why have you decided to stop by then?" Unthinkingly she led him through her main living area to her kitchen.

His eye was immediately drawn to a partially open drawer, from the corner of which he could just make out a matte white border edging the corner of shiny photographic paper. He also noticed the pile of unread mail on her table. He smirked safe in his knowledge that the mask concealed his expression, connecting her strange behavior with the receipt of his latest Polaroid sent on behalf of her dream guardian.

"Do I really need a reason to drop by my favorite former student's apartment?" The silver haired man asked. He tried his best to sound completely innocent while suppressing his mirth at the panic she must have felt when finding him at her door so soon after receiving a reminder that her silly little plushie – dressed and styled as him no less – was still at large.

She crossed her arms, seeing through his act. "Okay, now I _know_ you're after something…" she frowned as the possibilities crossed her mind. "What is it then?"

He chuckled, knowing he would have to come up with some thing to placate her. "Well you see I was on my way to the training ground and thought you may like to join me…"

* * *

Sakura halfheartedly, she tossed a couple of Kakashi's kunai at him in annoyance from her perch near the middle of one of the larger trees in the area. "This is all _your_ fault you know." Before he could answer, she dropped down to the ground to gather a handful of shuriken she didn't remember either of them using.

"Now Sakura, I know I'm good, but this?" he gestured at the sky which had grown overcast and dark before suddenly opening up to let a deluge of rain down upon them. He tried to avoid looking directly at her; the rain had completely soaked both of them and now her clothing was clinging to her in ways that left very little to the imagination and no doubt in his mind as to her body temperature – which was very, _very_ cold.

"I don't know how you did it, but I just _know_ that you did!" she growled at him as she collected the last of their scattered weapons from her section of undergrowth. "The first time _ever_ that I had the upper hand and might have actually won,_ for once, _all of a sudden rain clouds appear from out of nowhere and thoroughly drench us – giving you the opening you needed to turn the tables and pin me. Of course you _had_ to have done something…"

She hastily turned her attention to the kunai she was returning to her holster, a flush creeping across her face as she remembered how he had deftly flipped her over, pinned her arms above her head and smiled as he announced himself as the winner of their spar. She cursed Ino for planting such lecherous thoughts in her mind about her former sensei, for at that instant she could easily imagine the two of them in the same position with _very_ different intentions. She had found herself completely agreeing with Ino that there was just something about a wet Copy Ninja that somehow increased his attractiveness, and, to her inner dismay, the thought wasn't at all as disturbing as she felt it should be.

Shaking her head she willed such improper thoughts from her mind and refocused her annoyance back on the silver haired man currently making one last sweep of the underbrush on his side of the clearing looking for any remaining stray weapons from their chakra free spar.

Feeling her irritated eyes on his back he straightened and turned to face her. As casually as he could, knowing full well that she was indeed correct about him having _something_ to do with the sudden change in weather, but not foolish enough to let _her_ know that, he scratched the back of his head feigning innocence. "I can see why you might think that, but…"

"But _nothing_!!!"

"Sakura, when have you ever seen me directly affect the weather?" he asked patiently. She didn't have to know that all he had done was attract some nearby storm clouds and give them a good hard poke so they would eventually rain. He had actually set things into motion just before they had started sparring with thoughts of the rain making for an interesting match – and maybe a small part of him had wanted to see her thoroughly soaked with her clothing clinging to her. As much as he would love to take full credit the timing had been something of a fluke, but a most welcome fluke. She had had him pinned, kneeling with a shin resting on each of his upper thighs, bent at her waist with her hands pinning his wrists to the ground on either side of his head breathing heavily with her chest very much within his immediate sight range. In the seconds immediately following the series of actions that led to his position on the ground, he had found himself in one of the toughest struggles for control of his body that he had ever been in. Though now, after the fact, he at least partially regretted his fiddling with the weather since he was having a hard time keeping his eye where it belonged while talking to her and the absolute _last_ thing he wanted to do was to get caught with his gaze wandering.

"Just because I haven't _seen_ you do it certainly does not mean that you _can't_! You're the Copy Ninja for kami's sake! Master of a thousand jutsu or something like that…"

"You really have enough faith in my abilities to think that I've managed to change the weather?" he asked, his curiosity taking over from his feigned sense of injured dignity.

She shot him a strange look, "Of course."

He felt very much taken aback, having figured that she had long ago lost all true awe and unwavering faith in his abilities, though if he had been thinking of how much regard she still had for her dream guardian he might not have been quite so surprised. He fumbled for words for a moment before finally responding, "I see… Well, then you'll just have to believe me when I say I had nothing to do with the rain falling when it did."

Which was true, just not the whole truth.

She eyed him suspiciously before finally allowing it to drop, knowing that even if he did have something to do with the rain he would never admit it.

She groaned and stretched her back and shoulder muscles already able to feel the new bruises forming, and decided to switch the subject. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to learn my lesson and refuse to spar with you under the no chakra rules…" She sighed, rubbing absently at her shoulders and wishing she could heal herself. The medic in her still had enough pride to wait to heal such minor injuries until she was safely back in her own apartment – otherwise she would have to face the ridicule from her former sensei about allowing her skills to get a little rusty.

He laughed. "We've tried that already, remember?" Kakashi asked, recalling the disastrous results. She had gotten in a few good hits and he had been injured badly enough to need healing – but since she had used almost all of her chakra sparring with him she hadn't been able to heal him. Neither one of them had enjoyed the experience very much and had agreed that all future spars would be of the no chakra variety.

"You _would_ have to bring that up…" Interrupting herself she suddenly sneezed, realizing how cold she had gotten since getting drenched.

"C'mon Sakura, we'll both catch cold if we stay out much longer. I've some of those butter cookies that you like and I'll even make you a nice hot cup of tea to go with them." He held out a hand with several of her kunai.

She sighed, knowing his offer of tea and cookies was the best she would get by way of apology, and crossed the clearing to accept the kunai from him. As she reached out for them he drew his hand closer to himself, drawing her a little closer to him than she would generally get without prompting. Upon taking the kunai she felt a slightly wet but warm weight settle across her shoulders – his jonin vest. Surprised she looked up at him to catch his trademarked version of a smile.

"Wore the waterproof one today," he shrugged. "You looked cold." Without another word he started back toward the village, expecting her to follow, and after a moment of stunned hesitation she hurried to catch up with him.

* * *

He unlocked and held the door open for her. "You know where the bathroom is, there should be clean towels in the closet. I'll find you something to wear while your clothes dry."

His voice had taken on an authoritative note and she found herself obeying without a second thought. After locating a couple clean towels she happily shed her soaking wet clothes to dry herself, then spent a few moments healing the motley assortment of bruises she had obtained during her training session. Sighing with a little relief she wrapped one of the large surprisingly fluffy towels around herself to wait for Kakashi to return with clothes for her.

After a few moments, her impatience got the better of her and she carefully opened the bathroom door to peek her head out. "Kakashi?"

"In here," he called from the direction of his kitchen.

She hesitated for a moment before following the sound of his voice. Everything that should be covered was so she had no reason to hesitate, and yet she did. He had probably just gone on to his kitchen after changing himself to start a pot of tea, not thinking to leave clothes for her outside the bathroom door. Slowly she entered the kitchen to find that he had indeed changed into a dry pair of pants and undershirt with attached mask, leaving everything else, including his forehead protector off for the time being. As she had hoped he had his back turned to her and was setting out mugs for tea and a plate for cookies.

"Ah, here you are. Um… did you find something for me to wear?" she asked, fighting a blush and suddenly feeling as though the towel she was wearing was much too short. Subconsciously she shifted herself a little nervously, trying to tug the bottom of the towel down just a little more.

He turned from what he was doing to find her standing hesitantly in the kitchen doorway, his eye skittering over her semi-clad state before locking firmly on her eyes. "Yes, I've put an old shirt and a pair of shortened pants on the table for you. I grabbed the smallest I could find; they're probably still much too large for you but will do until your clothes are ready." He gestured at the dark clothing she had failed to notice upon entering the room.

Her eyes followed his gesture to the clothes and she happily stepped into the kitchen to take them. "Thanks Kakashi – where have you dropped your wet clothes and towels? I'll add them to mine in the washer if you haven't already done so."

"I've already put them in the machine, just put yours in too and start it." He smiled at her and started to turn his head back to what he was doing.

As he turned his head she turned to exit the kitchen and something out of place caught his eye. His gaze locked onto her back and shoulder, finding something there that he didn't like. He stepped closer to her, automatically reaching to nudge the towel aside and allow him a better look, a faint frown appearing beneath his mask.

Her cheeks heated as she felt him place his hand on the edge of her towel and gently shift the fabric aside. Sakura turned her head over her shoulder to yell at the man, "KAKASHI!" Her towel slipped a little in her annoyance, allowing the back to gape and sag enough to reveal the majority of her back to his inquisitive eye, leading her to fumble with her hands to keep the ends of the towel closed in the front.

Puzzled, he lifted his eye to hers, took in her scarlet face, and realized what he was doing. His immediate reaction was to remove his hand from her back and beat a hasty retreat, but for some reason he was disinclined to do so and instead he held his ground.

"What's this?" he asked ignoring her exclamation as best he could as he carefully traced over the thin bit of shiny raised tissue he had never seen before.

She shivered a little as goose bumps formed at his soft touch and feeling completely thrown off balance she answered him automatically, "A _scar_ Kakashi, what else do you think it could be?"

"I can see that. It's new. Where did you get it?" His voice was soft and held a note she couldn't quite identify.

"Huh? How did _you_ know it's new? It's completely healed…" she trailed off realizing just who she was talking to. "Never mind I can guess…"

For just a fraction of a second he almost panicked thinking that she had found out about his little impromptu peeping session at the hot spring before realizing she was probably referring to his uncovered Sharingan.

Deciding to play it safe he chose to go with a noncommittal, "Hmm…"

Unbidden his hand traced the scar again, starting near her neck and slowly trailing over her shoulder and down to about the middle of her back. Once, he had known all of her scars and the stories behind them, or rather he had known the reason why he was to blame for each and every one of them – all the many little ways he had failed her as she had been under his care. Granted, she had never seen her scars as anything other than reminders of lessons she had learned at the hands of enemies, nothing more, and certainly had never blamed him for any of them, but that didn't mean he could so easily forgive himself.

She shivered again at the feel of his fingers tracing the still fairly new scar and mentally cursed the fact that she had been unable to heal the injury herself – there wouldn't have been a scar if she had, and she wouldn't be thinking some very improper thoughts about her former sensei and the other things he could be doing with his hands.

Hastily she shoved the inappropriate thoughts from her mind and pulled the towel back up and into position, once again covering the majority of her back and the scar. His hand rather reluctantly removed itself from her as the fabric blocked his trailing finger and she turned to face him.

He caught her gaze and raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "Where did this scar come from?" he prompted her as she still hadn't answered his question.

"It's nothing. Unexpected ambush on what should have been an uneventful escort mission and an inexperienced team leader forgot to make contingency plans – while I was healing the client's serious wounds the teammate who was supposed to be covering me got distracted." She shrugged and laughed a little, trying to lighten the mood. "That's not one you could possibly take the blame for, so don't even try." With a smile she turned once again to head back to the bathroom to change.

"Sakura…" he started, unsure what to say, but feeling the need to continue the conversation.

Something in his tone of voice caused her to pause, fumbling with her towel a little, and return her gaze to him. "Before you even think to bring it up, I can point out at least a dozen or two, probably more, of _your_ scars that are directly related to you saving _my_ sorry ass." She paused and smiled at his incredulous expression. "You know I'm right Kakashi."

"Those don't count," he shook his head stubbornly.

"Oh?" She rearranged her towel so it would stay up on its own, draping his clothes over her shoulder as she stepped a little closer to him. Carefully the pink haired woman took his rough larger right hand in hers, lightly running her fingers across a thin almost invisible strip of raised pale skin stretching across the back of his hand. "I remember all of them. Though there are less of them now that I've been the one doing the healing… This," she let her fingers trail across the almost non-existent scar again, "this was the first of them…"

He wanted to pull his hand from her, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. He was entranced by her unexpected actions.

She smiled again at him, "You stopped Zabuza's shuriken with your hand before he could throw it at Naruto." Her expression turned thoughtful as she gazed up at him, "You know, I don't think I ever thanked you for most of your scars – what a selfish little girl I was."

"Sakura you really don't…" he trailed off as he watched her bend her head slightly to brush her lips against the old scar.

She glanced back up at his face, noting with amusement his expression of surprise, and smiled. "Thank you."

Just as he was about to speak a pounding noise interrupted, coming from the entrance of his apartment.

Hastily she drew herself away from him, a flush gracing her cheeks, and continued her interrupted return trip to his bathroom to get dressed – she recognized that particular impatient knocking and wanted nothing to do with Naruto and most like Sasuke walking in on her with Kakashi wearing only a towel.

Slowly, feeling slightly dazed, he made his way to the door to see what his former student wanted. Upon opening the door he was almost bowled over by his over enthusiastic visitor

"Kakashi, there you are! Have you seen Sakura? We've been looking for her for a couple hours now."

Sasuke followed his blonde friend into Kakashi's apartment, more observantly than Naruto. "Idiot, of course he's seen her, her boots are here." He pointed to the wet knee high boots sitting in the entryway next to Kakashi's larger sandals.

"Well if she's here, where is she then?" the blue eyed man shifted his gaze around the empty living room area before landing back on his former sensei.

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, unsure what sort of fib he should tell. He wasn't about to try and hide the fact that she was there, but wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of their reactions upon seeing her in _his_ clothing. Much to his relief, after a moment or two of silence the decision was taken from him.

"I'm right here Naruto." Sakura entered the room and set a tray bearing four mugs of tea and a plate of cookies on a low table. She had heard the two men enter and changed as quickly as possible before slipping into the kitchen to pour four cups of tea to add to a tray along with the plate of cookies. As she entered Sakura hoped her attire would go uncommented upon, though she knew it was a hope in vain. She had had to roll the waist of the pants several times and draw the drawstring as tight as it would go to keep the still too long pants on, and the oversized dark jonin shirt was so large she could practically swim in it. "You've been looking for me?" She tried not to notice Sasuke's eyes narrow ever so slightly as his gaze lingered on her over sized shirt, the collar of which had slipped across and slightly down her shoulder.

Naruto beat him to the punch. "What the hell are you wearing Sakura? It's huge!" He laughed as he playfully reached out to tug at the hem of the over sized shirt, pulling the collar further down her shoulder and revealing a corner of her newest scar to Sasuke's ever observant eyes.

"Naruto!" she cried as she batted his hand away from her, only to find it replaced with Sasuke's. Quickly she turned to face the dark haired man. "Sasuke? What has gotten into the two of you?"

As she turned to address the Uchiha the mischievous blonde slipped behind her, lifting the hem of the shirt to get a better look at her back. Hastily she clutched at the front of the garment to keep it from riding up along with the back and flashing Kakashi who was clearly enjoying the interaction of his former students but apparently not inclined to interfere. Sakura tried to whirl around on her two former teammates, only to find herself unable as they held her in place to study her back.

"Hey! Leggo!" she struggled a little, consciously keeping her strength under control to avoid causing property damage to Kakashi's apartment, but without her chakra enhanced strength she was fighting a losing battle. "What the hell are you two doing?!" she exclaimed as they pushed again at the back of the shirt, diminishing the amount of fabric left to cover her chest.

As he watched, Kakashi found it harder and harder not to step in to _mediate_ the little scuffle between his former students. The facts that Sakura's shirt kept inching up further and further, and that Naruto wasn't all that careful in where he was placing his hands certainly weren't helping matters either.

Naruto moved a little to the side so he could see just what the kunoichi was so upset about. After observing her hands tightly clinging to as much of the over large shirt as possible he laughed. "Geeze Sakura what's with your sudden bout of modesty? It's not like Sasuke and I _haven't_ already seen you naked before…"

The dark haired man sighed in irritation and made sure of his grip on the irate woman's arms before she could lash out at Naruto. Tact was something Naruto had never managed to develop or grasp even as a foreign concept. As he secured his grip on the kunoichi, he resumed his study of the new long thin scar extending partially across Sakura's back.

Her face turned dark and she let her control slip, "Never _intentionally,_ you moron!! How the hell you've survived as long as you have without learning the fine art of knocking _or_ how to use the front door I'll never know!!" She swung out at him and missed only because Sasuke still held her steady, preventing her from doing any harm to the blonde man. Angrily she tried to turn on the Uchiha. "Sasuke let go!" she struggled unsuccessfully to free herself from his grasp, unintentionally causing the already high hemline of the shirt to rise further.

The pink haired medic was more than relieved when, a moment later, Kakashi finally decided to step in and remove her from Sasuke's scrutiny, quickly pulling her shirt down as he set her aside.

"Okay, okay that's enough you two," he glanced apparently apathetically at the younger men, though he was starting to become annoyed with the way they were pawing at her – never mind the mind boggling fact that they had apparently, on more than one occasion, seen her completely undressed and thought little of it. With a deep breath he was able to push the faint feelings of envy and jealousy from his mind, feeling less disgusted with himself than he felt he should.

"Aw _Kakashi_! What'd you go and do that for? I didn't get a good enough look!" Naruto whined in disappointment, though he made no move to once again try and corner the seething kunoichi.

Fuming Sakura glared at him, "What the hell were you doing? Get a good look at _what_?"

Before Naruto could open his mouth to insert his foot Sasuke hurriedly answered for him, "You've a new scar."

Her mouth dropped open, "That's _it_? _That's_ what you were making such a fuss over? It's just a scar, a fully healed injury damnit!"

"That's what we thought…" Sasuke was interrupted before he could tactfully ask his next question.

Naruto's eyes blazed, "Who did this to you? I'll _kill_ him!"

"Easy Naruto, you're wasting your time, he's already dead. Now leave it be." She sighed, getting over her anger at the two young men. It was their concern for her that motivated them to act in such over protective ways, and she knew she should be thankful for having such loyal friends even though they could be more than annoying at times. "You mentioned you were looking for me?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"The bastard who did that to you might be dead, but your teammates should have protected you better…" ignoring her attempt at shifting the topic of conversation Sasuke mused aloud. "Who were you working with?"

"Yeah! Who was your team leader? He deserves a refresher course in…"

"Stop it, both of you!" she exclaimed beyond frustrated. "It's neither the team leader nor team members fault. Blame it on extenuating circumstances if you have to blame something." She shook her head angrily and tried to change the subject. "Now, what was it that you were looking for me for?"

Hoping they would get the point, she took a seat on Kakashi's couch and reached for one of the, unexpectedly still steaming, mugs of tea. She was pleasantly surprised when Kakashi, who had remained a mostly silent if amused observer throughout their little squabble, took the seat next to her, also reaching for a mug of tea.

The two younger shinobi exchanged glances and decided to let the matter drop – they could always check the mission logs and do a little disciplining of their own at a later time. Having decided to give their questions about her latest scar up for the time being they reached for the remaining mugs of tea and settled themselves in chairs across from the couch – neither one thinking to take the seat next to Kakashi.

Before Naruto could incorrectly approach the whole issue at hand, the Uchiha cleared his throat and hurriedly spoke up. "We were looking for you because we heard that you received another gift from your secret admirer."

Feeling puzzled she eyed them warily. "Yes, and?"

He rolled his eyes at her clearly feigned naiveté. "We heard that it was of a rather more personal nature than the previous gifts…"

She thought about it for a moment before responding. "Well, I wouldn't say that."

"You wouldn't consider a cookbook with all his favorite dishes marked a more personal gift than say a box of tea or chocolates?" The dark haired man raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

"Eh? Where on earth did you hear that?" she asked starting to feel a little flustered. She hadn't mentioned to anyone what her latest gift had been _or_ the fact that Kakashi had marked his favorites for her convenience. "That's nonsense!"

Naruto leaned forward, clearly upset. "It doesn't matter where we heard it! But that guy's got some nerve! Secretly sending you all sorts of gifts without letting on who he is so Sasuke and I can check him out." He paused and laughed suddenly as something occurred to him, "Though you do have to admit that a cookbook probably won't do you much good, you're a complete disaster in the kitchen!"

Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips at the thought of someone actually looking forward to and encouraging Sakura's cooking. He remembered all too clearly the atrocities that came out of the kitchen or off the fire when she had been in charge of meals while on missions.

She frowned but didn't bother to correct the two smug shinobi. "I've told you two before and I'll tell you again, leave it be. It's of no concern to either of you."

"You're wrong. Whoever this secret admirer of yours is, he's obviously a complete coward – otherwise he wouldn't sneak around behind our backs, he would just step up." Sasuke made a negligent gesture, "If he isn't man enough to do that…"

"He's a loser," Naruto interrupted, "plain and simple a loser and a coward," he crossed his arms across his chest defiantly.

Sasuke sighed, irritated with himself and Naruto for allowing something so fishy to go on for so long. "We should have fixed this before it got so far. Not only is he a loser, but the more gifts he gives you the more he will expect from you in return."

Sakura had to fight hard not to laugh at the Uchiha's comment, if only they knew that they were talking about the man currently sitting next to her. "I really don't think he expects anything in return."

Naruto laughed. "He's a _guy_ Sakura, of course he'll want something from you." His eyes narrowed, "And I bet I know what it is too…" he cracked his knuckles and grinned, his canine teeth momentarily catching the light.

"Just tell us who the coward is and we'll make it right and forget all about this mess."

She sighed, hoping to put the whole issue to rest. She really wanted to pound the man sitting next to her or at the very least shoot him a dirty look, but Sakura knew better than to give herself away in front of the two people who most wanted to know the identity of her so-called secret admirer, even if Kakashi was radiating pure amusement at her situation and she just knew that he was wearing a smirk under his mask. Briefly, she wondered just how quickly the expression would be wiped from his lips if she were to tell the two younger shinobi that _he_ was her secret admirer. Sakura was sorely tempted, but honestly wasn't sure what the reactions would be upon her dropping such a bomb in the midst of such volatile men, and a small part of her knew the gifts would stop if Naruto and Sasuke were to find out. For some strange reason she didn't particularly care for the thought of no longer finding the gifts in her office.

"Look, the flaw in your plan is that you're assuming that I actually know who this secret admirer is… I've already told you that I don't – if I knew who he was, he wouldn't be a _secret_ admirer any longer. Don't you think that if I or someone else had figured it out, the whole village would probably know by now?"

"Not necessarily," the Uchiha responded slowly as he thought about it. "Despite the tendency for people to gossip, _some_ secrets have been kept remarkably well in this village."

She frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by her blonde former teammate.

"What do _you_ think Kakashi? You've been awfully quiet on this," the blue eyed man asked, hoping the older man would agree with his stance on the matter.

"What do I think?" Kakashi scratched his head as though in deep thought, knowing that Sakura knew he was enjoying himself immensely at her expense. "Well, I think Sakura is a big girl now and can make her own decisions in regard to her love life."

Naruto's face fell; he had clearly been expecting an ally in his former sensei.

"But, if she should decide to take up with a loser… It _is_ up to her friends to let her know and on occasion save her from herself…"

"Ah-ha!" Naruto crowed triumphantly. "See, Kakashi agrees with us! Dump the chump and get a real man."

Finally having had enough she glared at her two friends. "You're neglecting one key fact," she paused to make sure they were paying attention, "I'm _not_ dating anyone right now. You're just blowing this whole secret admirer bit way out of proportion."

As she spoke she heard the silver haired man's washing machine come to a halt and buzz. "Ah, there's my laundry. I'm going to go start the dryer, and when I come back, I want this conversation to be _over_." Happily she rose to go tend to the laundry.

As soon as she exited the room she heard both Naruto and Sasuke begin to argue at Kakashi, since he would have had to respond for them to actually argue _with_ him, over the silver haired man not backing them up in their bid to get rid of Sakura's secret admirer. She chuckled to herself, figuring to linger with the laundry for a little while to pay Kakashi back at least in part for the mess he had started.


	17. 17: Challenge! An Unexpected Engagement

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: So many thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! Your reviews really do make me continue though the tough bits, and this chapter has been a prime example of the tough bits! I had a really hard time getting it together and apologize for the tardiness of this chapter. I hope it's worth the wait. :)

Massive thank yous to my wonderful betas FlameTwirler and fatpuppy! I know this chapter especially was a mess when I first sent it to you… um, sorries?

About this chapter I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not to keep it or cut it and make a one shot out of it… In the end I decided to keep it, obviously ;p, but I'm still a little unsure as to if it really fits in with the rest of Simple Things… I think it's okay, otherwise why post it? But there are still a couple lingering doubts…

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Challenge! An Unexpected Engagement 

Sakura awoke, fully energized and ready to go after sleeping in for the first time in ages. In one of the rarest of rare events, Tsunade had given her two days in a row completely off with no strings attached and Sakura intended to make full use of them. Finishing her usual morning ablutions, she bustled to the kitchen to make a picnic lunch realizing with some annoyance that in her haste she had somehow managed to over calculate how much food she could realistically eat. Upon thinking about it for a moment she packed up the leftovers as a second lunch, just in case, and headed out to her little balcony, ready to start her day. The weather was shaping up to be beautiful and she was determined to find a nice quite spot, perhaps on top of the Hokage Monument or in a tree near one of the lesser used training grounds, to while away the day with a good book and a nice al fresco lunch.

As she stood, taking in the view she was seldom able to enjoy, the world turned upside-down – literally. Quite suddenly, she found herself slung over an unknown assailant's shoulder, her bag containing her lunch stealthily taken from her hand. Before she knew it, she was being carried off across the rooftops. After a moment of startled shock – it had been a while since her last attempted kidnapping – she started to struggle a little, testing her unknown captor's strength while trying to gauge where her assailant may be taking her. At this point she wasn't particularly concerned, her kidnapper seemed to be little better than an amateur, trying to take her from the busy neighborhood in broad daylight without any sort of precautions. Sakura was more curious as to _who_ would be attempting to kidnap her and of course _why_ than concerned that her attempted assailant might actually succeed.

"Easy there, Sakura," a familiar voice immediately ceased her struggles.

Her mind promptly deserted her upon hearing his voice. "K-kakashi? What the…???" she asked surprised at the identity of her so called kidnapper.

He chuckled at her confusion, realizing that in spite of his determination not to, he was enjoying himself. "We'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Huh? Be _where_? _Where_ are you taking me?" she asked with confusion clearly present in her voice. She couldn't imagine where he could possibly be taking her or why he would resort to kidnapping tactics to do so – though it certainly wasn't the first time he had done so. Occasionally he had, either under duress or for his own personal amusement, taken it into his head to grab her somewhere and take off – more often than not for training purposes.

He grunted and hitched her up a little over his shoulder a bit more securely, choosing to ignore her question.

After a moment of silent, but thoughtful, travel she suddenly realized where he was heading and started struggling in earnest. "Oh no! No, no, No, NO, _NO, __**NO**_!" She slammed her fists against his back, not caring if he were to drop her – though she honestly couldn't imagine the elite jonin unintentionally losing his grip on her. All kidding and fake kidnapping attempts aside, Sakura knew that if she truly didn't want to go wherever he was taking her he would, albeit reluctantly, set her down and let her go.

Feeling puzzled and needing to get a better grasp on the struggling kunoichi, he paused at the ever familiar red bridge. Once he had stopped moving he shifted her down and around so she was cradled in his arms. He looked down at her face and raised his visible eyebrow inquiringly.

She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest with indignation. "Oh no, _not_ today!" Generally on the rare occasions when he took it into his head to transport her somewhere, she would give him the benefit of the doubt, but this time she was completely off duty and not in the mood to deal with what she figured he had coming.

"Eh?" he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

She sighed, calming down a bit. "I'm not stupid Kakashi. I can see where we're going now." She glared at him, "And I want _nothing_ to do with it!"

"Oh really?" he raised an amused eyebrow finally realizing what she must be thinking. She was wrong, of course, but that wasn't exactly the point. She may have figured out where he was going, but there was _no way_ she would ever guess why or what they were going to do once they got there. For his plan to work, it was absolutely essential that she _not_ know.

She blinked, clearing her mind of the thought that he had raised his eyebrow suggestively instead of questioningly. Gathering her thoughts she continued. "Today is my first day completely off in…" she paused for a moment to actually think "I don't know how long. I am _not_, I repeat, I am _**not**_ training with you. I fully intend on enjoying a nice relaxing day of leisure for once. Kami knows I deserve one. Go find someone else to play with!" She started struggling again in earnest. When he didn't release her – as expected – she shot him a dirty look.

The older shinobi chuckled at his former student. "So _that's_ what has you worried. I promise you won't have to put forth any effort when we get there, regardless of how it may appear." Taking advantage of the startled kunoichi's momentary cease in struggling he lightly shifted her back over his shoulder to continue on his way.

After a few moments of stunned silence during which she tried to fathom what he could possibly mean she finally found her voice. "What the hell does _that_ mean, Kakashi?" When he didn't answer she tried halfheartedly slamming her fists against his back again but found it less than satisfying when he refused to react and chose instead to fume inwardly at the infuriatingly silent man.

Several moments of uneventful travel brought the two shinobi to one of the least used and most secluded training areas in the forest surrounding the village. It was a wide natural glade with a nice relatively flat expanse of wildlife grazed grass.

Kakashi slowed to a stop near the center of the field.

"Ah, so my eternal rival has decided to show up after all! And here I thought that you may default. I should have thought better of my honorable opponent."

The silver haired jonin had to choke back a laugh at feeling the shudder go through the kunoichi currently slung over his shoulder. Even after all these years the sight of green spandex tended to send her running for the hills, for where one green spandexed shinobi could be found the other was sure not to be too far away. Unfortunately for Sakura, the younger of the pair still pursued her regardless of regular beatings from Naruto and Sasuke and the fact that she _never_ reciprocated his feelings or offered him any encouragement whatsoever. Little if anything deterred Rock Lee once he set his mind on something – a fact Sakura had been running from since she met him at her first chunin exam.

"Kakashi!" an angry voice accosted the elite jonin. "What are you doing with Sakura?! It is most improper the way you are handling her. I must respectfully ask that you put her _down_!"

He sighed and let Sakura down, inwardly chuckling at how she had involuntarily buried her hands and face into the back of his vest in a vain attempt to disappear from the all too persistent shinobi.

"You'll pay for this, old man," she hissed venomously into his ear as he set her on her feet. Sakura glared at him before turning to greet the two spandex wearing shinobi.

"Good morning," she smiled brightly before continuing, "Can either of you tell me what I'm doing here? Grey hair over there refused to tell me where we were going or why."

Kakashi grunted something that sounded remarkably like, "No respect…" but otherwise kept a calm outward demeanor. He had wanted absolutely nothing to do with Guy's latest antics and had steadfastly ignored and refused all challenges the green clad man had issued for the past couple weeks. Unfortunately the previous evening, while at the pub, Guy had chosen to start in on one of the Copy Ninja's least favorite topics of discussion: why the silver haired man's former student continued to refuse his green clad clone. For some reason Guy seemed to take it as a personal affront that Kakashi's former student wanted nothing to do with _his_ former student who was so obviously love struck. After working himself up into an alcohol enhanced frenzy, the taijutsu master had issued yet another pointless challenge, one that the elite jonin had had no interest in meeting.

Or rather, he had not intended on taking the bushy browed man up on his challenge until he passed by Sakura's flat with the intention of making one of his special, more personal, deliveries. Instead of finding her not at home as he had expected he found her clearly getting ready for a day off. He had grinned mischievously, realizing it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and he had promptly grabbed her and taken off for his meeting. Putting some of his sneakier shinobi skills to good use, he even managed to make his delivery, dropping it in her milk crate, without her noticing.

"Yes Guy-sensei, why are we here? I came with you because you asked, but you have not yet told me what we will be doing…" Lee asked with genuine confusion. He had expected a training session, not a meeting with his mentor's rival and the woman he had been unsuccessfully pursuing for the past eight years.

Guy flashed a brilliant smile and signature pose with his thumb up. "Ah, this is most well done Kakashi. I would not have thought you capable of completing the first part of our challenge."

Sakura's eyes flashed. "_Challenge_? What _challenge_?"

"My apologies fair cherry blossom, one of the stipulations of the contest was to convince a former student to accompany us to this clearing for the main competition without telling them why – an exercise in trust! I had not counted on my silver haired rival to have a silver tongue – as surely it must have taken some convincing to get you to join us this beautiful morning."

Guy eyed Kakashi for a moment but the Copy Ninja paid him no attention, his nose already buried in his recently acquired scarlet jacketed book. He had done his part in getting Sakura there. Granted, if Guy had stopped to think about the fact that he had brought her there slung over his shoulder the green clad man might have at least suspected that Kakashi hadn't convinced Sakura to accompany him, rather he had just plain up and abducted her. Regardless he figured that the rest was up to Guy as he had seen that particular angry expression on the kunoichi before and did not feel like being on the receiving end of what usually came with it.

Absently Sakura rubbed her temple as if a headache was forming and decided to go along with her former sensei in whatever stupid challenge it might be – it embarrassed her to admit it, but she had a hard time refusing him.

"So what exactly is the challenge to be?" she asked, inwardly cringing from the near infinite possibilities. Sakura had already seen them 'compete' at such ridiculous 'events' as hopscotch and jacks tournaments as well as jumping rope, endless rounds of janken and – her personal favorite – the cross dressing cross country race, though the memory of Guy in a green spandex evening gown was one she would rather forget.

She had directed her question to Guy, since he was always the instigator of these challenges, but for the moment he seemed to be tongue tied with a foolish grin on his face and his hand absently scratching the back of his neck. Sighing she redirected her gaze to Kakashi. "Well?"

He glanced up at her, rolled his eye, closed his book with a snap and placed it in his pouch before looking her straight in the eye with a silly grin fixed on his face as well. He was looking forward to finding out what her reaction would be, as at this point he was fairly confident _he_ wouldn't be on the receiving end of her fury. "I believe it was synchronized pushups…" he let the sentence trail off just waiting for her reaction.

After a moment of stunned silence she inhaled sharply causing the three male shinobi to lean backward in anticipation of the sure to be deafening verbal assault. Unexpectedly her eyes drifted back to the shinobi who had brought her into the whole ridiculous mess and she noted his well concealed mirth at the whole thing. Instead of rightly giving the three absurd men an earful she laughed. Nervously the three shinobi sheepishly joined in with her laughter. It _had_ to be the stupidest challenge yet, but as she wiped the tears from her eyes she realized that Kakashi could have actually meant it when he had promised her she wouldn't have to put forth any actual effort – though Guy and Lee may have an objection to it.

Once her laugher died down she eyed the two green clad shinobi before her, absently wondering if she seriously wanted to agree to help Kakashi with the challenge. She turned back to her former teacher, with her mind made up. "Kakashi, you owe me dinner somewhere _nice_ when you win."

The younger spandex sporting shinobi opened his mouth to protest, but was hastily cut off by his former sensei.

"Ah, so the beautiful cherry blossom will agree to participate in the challenge?" The older green clad shinobi asked dubiously. He hadn't thought that she would ever agree to the forfeit. It was something that hadn't been mentioned thus far, but had been decided by Kakashi and himself the previous evening. Rather, Guy had decided and in sheer desperation to get away from the bushy browed man, Kakashi had agreed, with no intentions of actually participating. It didn't occur to Guy that because one of his own stipulations was for neither student to know what was going on until their arrival at the training grounds that it was highly unlikely that Sakura could _know_ about the forfeits, never mind actually agree to them.

"I suppose… I don't see why not. Who have you gotten to be the judge?"

"Judge?" Guy asked as though it had only just then occurred to him that they would need someone to watch and declare the winner.

She sighed audibly, "Right. While you guys work _that_ out I'm going to go find a nice spot to relax. It _is_ my day off after all. Let me know once you've found someone and are ready to start this absurd challenge."

"Sakura! Let me…" the younger bushy browed man took a couple steps toward her before abruptly being pulled back by his mentor.

"Come on Lee, let's go look find someone to act as judge for this challenge! The sooner we get a judge the sooner we can get started!"

"But…" he started, obviously wanting to join Sakura.

"No buts, Lee, come along. We have a couple things to discuss." The older man absently ruffled his protégé's hair, hoping that his gamble on the ridiculous challenge would win Lee the chance he had been trying to earn since meeting the pink haired kunoichi.

Feeling bad for the younger, bushy browed man, Sakura smiled and waved cheerily at him as the men took off to locate a judge. Lee really was a nice guy and honestly she could tell that his intentions were nothing less than honorable – a rarity amongst modern men to say the least. Unfortunately she knew she would never like him as more than just a friend and for whatever reason he seemed unable to accept that fact.

She approached the edge of the now empty training area with thoughts of finally getting some relaxing done in the shade of a particular tree. Absently she reached for a tube of lip gloss from her pouch as she walked, feeling as though her lips were a little dry, and applied a fresh coat. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, she found a familiar and unwelcome blur in front of her. One of his hands found its way around her waist while the other found its way into her hair bending her backwards as he pressed his lips to hers. For a moment she was too startled to move.

What started out to be a relatively chaste kiss suddenly turned much less so, bringing her back to her senses to land a chakra enhanced punch to the unwanted shinobi's jaw, sending him partway across the clearing. Furiously she lifted the back of her hand to her lips as if to scrub the feeling of him from her as she glared at the offending man as she rose to her feet.

"Genma, what the _hell_!?"

Carefully he picked himself up, rubbing at his jaw. Once on his feet he locked eyes with her and slowly licked his lips. "Hmm, cinnamon… And I would have thought that you'd taste like cherries." He ducked more of an act of instinct rather than solid knowledge and was happy to see he hadn't lost it upon hearing several kunai whiz by only inches above his lowered head. He couldn't stop himself from adding, "Tingly too…"

Enraged she lunged for him, only to find herself being scooped up and lightly tossed over a shoulder for the second time that day.

"Kakashi!" She slammed her fists into his back, though careful not to actually hurt him by using chakra, she wasn't angry at _him_. "Put me _down_ so I can _hurt_ him!!"

"Easy there Sakura," the silver haired jonin shot the senbon wielder a questioning look. "What did he do _this_ time?" Something he couldn't quite put his finger on troubled him about the lecherous man making a serious pass at Sakura – though just _what_ exactly was staying infuriatingly and firmly just out of reach. Inwardly he shrugged, figuring it would come to him in time.

Too furious for words, she found that she had momentarily lost the ability to articulate her anger.

Genma sensed this and happily took the second chance she had inadvertently afforded him that morning. "Nothing serious Kakashi, I swear. Just something I've wanted to do for a long time now." He couldn't help licking his lips again, searching for another faint trace of cinnamon.

Sakura was able to find her voice only to have it silenced as she felt the arm holding her in place constrict, she could only guess protectively or possessively, in his less than obvious annoyance. Feeling puzzled she lost her voice once again. For the life of her she couldn't imagine what had gotten into her former sensei – not that she was complaining; she found that for some strange reason she really liked this side of him; the fact that he was behaving very much like Naruto and Sasuke didn't particularly register.

"That's enough Genma, this ends _now_," the smile barely visible under his mask told the offending shinobi they were still friends, but the fact that it hadn't reached his eye told him they wouldn't be if he continued to seriously pursue Sakura against her obvious wishes.

"Whoa there Kakashi! It's not what you think at all!" Genma exclaimed as he backpedaled faster than he ever had before, completely taken aback by how seriously his silver haired friend seemed to be taking his latest advance on the pink haired medic – especially considering that it was by no means his first or most aggressive.

The silver haired man narrowed his eye. "The fact that she punched you across the clearing and obviously wants to exact some sort of physical retribution you tells me that whatever it was, was entirely unwelcome to say the very least." He paused as something just on the edges of his mind finally cleared. "Aren't you sleeping with Ino anyway? I should think that if you would be foolish enough to cheat on her, you would at least be wise enough to try to cheat on her with someone _other_ than her best friend…"

"Aw, Kakashi! You know I'm not _that_ stupid!" Genma exclaimed with a look sheer horror on his face. "Ino… again… bed," he trailed off in an inarticulate murmur.

"What was that? Couldn't quite catch what you were saying."

"Ino… me… another…" he tried again only marginally louder, obviously not wanting to actually make himself heard.

"Sorry, I seem to be going a little deaf in one ear, care to repeat that?"

Genma sighed, obviously annoyed with his friend. "Fine. Ino dumped me again, moved on to another man's bed. You happy?" He made a frustrated gesture with his hands. "Why'd you think I didn't tell you about her the _first_ time around? Damnit can't brag about the ones that dump _me_ – no matter how hot _or_ good of a lay…"

Kakashi eyed him and sighed. Sakura had stopped struggling, though he guessed probably not fuming. Inadvertently his arm tightened around her, deciding not to release her quite yet for the senbon wielding man's safety – at least, that's what his ever agile mind used to rationalize his desire to hold on to her for just a little bit longer. Though, after noticing that the shaggy haired man's gaze was now fixed several inches to the right of his face, most likely on the heart-shaped derriere of his former student, he shifted his stance a little in order to foil the view.

"Kakashi?" the disembodied voice of the older green spandexed shinobi preceded the appearance of his former student Lee.

"Sakura, are you all right? We heard you yell at Genma…" he eyed Kakashi's grip on her disapprovingly though chose not to voice his opinion.

The Copy Ninja felt rather than heard her sigh, obviously calming herself down, before answering.

"Yes, Lee, I'm fine." She noticed how he was looking at the man currently holding her over his shoulder and caught herself before she rolled her eyes at him. "If you want to glare at someone glare at Genma; Kakashi is only thing keeping me from hurting him..."

The youthful green clad man's eyes immediately shifted to the lecherous senbon wielding man, narrowing with suspicion. "What have you done to upset her?!"

The brown eyed man found himself lifting his hands in front of himself defensively. He hadn't realized that not only was Kakashi in the area, but Sakura's long time suitor was as well. If he had, he may have thought twice about accosting her as he had. Though, he honestly couldn't say that he regretted his action, consequences or not.

"Nothing, nothing…" he paused in thought and hastily revised his statement upon receiving a dubious look from Kakashi. "Well, nothing any other healthy straight man in the village wouldn't do upon finding one of the most sought after Leaf kunoichi with her defenses low…"

"Oh that's _it,_ Genma!" the pink haired woman started struggling again in her former sensei's grasp. "Just as soon as Kakashi lets me down I'm gonna…" she squeaked and trailed off feeling the arm around her waist constrict again, almost painfully, shifting her attention. "Kakashi! Let me _down_! He deserves some pain!" Upon receiving no reaction, she amended her previous declaration. "Fine, I won't hurt him too much just a little… okay a _lot_…." She pounded on his back again and almost whined, "C'mon Kakashi put me _down_!!"

He shook his head in a negation, "Not until you calm down. He may be an idiot and he probably deserves whatever you want to do to him, but…" he trailed off looking for a valid reason for her not to beat the letch senseless.

She kept struggling, though her heart had gone out of it as her temper finally started to burn itself out and she realized that she was probably over reacting.

"Remember Sakura, whatever you do to him you're just going to have to heal afterward… Kind of takes the satisfaction out of injuring him in the first place doesn't it?"

She paused in her struggles and heaved a large sigh before ceasing her movements entirely, her temper completely subsided. "_Damnit_ Kakashi, why'd you have to go and take the fun out of it?"

He chuckled, sensing that Genma was probably safe for the time being from her avenging fists. "Just pointing out something you may have missed in your blind rage."

She sighed again loudly and relaxed entirely in defeat. "Fine, you win… though it seems horribly unfair. He needs some sort of punishment for what he did... Certainly don't want to encourage him to try it again."

He chuckled. "I think I have just the thing for him – we've just found our judge for this challenge."

"Ah! Good, so does that mean we can get this show on the road then?" she asked hopefully; the sooner they started the sooner it would end and she could get started with enjoying whatever was left of her day off – preferably somewhere far, far away from the foolish men.

Genma looked from the silver haired man to the woman still hanging over Kakashi's shoulder to the green clad younger man still shooting him suspicious dark looks every once in a while. "Judge? Challenge?" he asked, his interest peaked in spite of himself.

* * *

"Ugh, Kakashi…" she whined quietly in his ear. "I'm _bored_." She was sprawled, as usual, on his back as he was doing his pushups for the competition. Both Lee and Guy had objected strenuously when she had casually slid onto Kakashi's back just before the challenge started, but had to accept it as fair tactic since Kakashi had ensured the terms he had agreed to would allow for him to do all the work – on the off chance that he actually did decide to show up for the challenge, of course. 

He grunted unsympathetically as he continued to push himself up and lower himself down, beginning to think he may have miscalculated his eternal rival's ability to stay in synch with his miniature clone.

"I'm a little busy now, Sakura. I'm sure you can find something to do to amuse yourself."

She huffed, missing the faint strangled noise he made at her exhalation of breath in his ear, and shifted herself once again, noting from the corner of her eye that both the judge for the stupid competition and their younger competitor were watching her with similar looks though very different thoughts on their minds. Inwardly she smiled as an idea occurred to her as to how she could hurry the challenge along – one way or another, one of the two men would crack and put an end to it.

She rearranged herself once again, propping herself up on her elbows – allowing the neckline of her shirt to gape open just enough to seemingly inadvertently reveal a glimpse of her chest down to her lacy bra—thankfully, she had decided to wear one of her frivolous sets of undergarments. Once she was sure both men had taken a look, she turned her attention to the silver haired man's neck and shoulders, lightly running her hands over them as though admiring and enjoying watching them flex and move under her, all the while taking great pains to not actually interfere with his pushups. Truly, she didn't have a lot of pretending to do, as she actually did enjoy watching his muscles expand and contract under the thin material of his undershirt, but it was something she would never allow herself to admit, let alone act on.

After a minute or so she decided her audience was well and truly interested in her actions and set her plan into action. "Hmm, Kakashi, you're so stiff," she murmured, though loud enough for the others to hear. She didn't wait for his reaction, as she wasn't sure if he would play along with her or not, though she did feel him slow his pace a little and his body tense at her words. "You should have told me. I've been trained to help alleviate this sort of tension you know." Almost imperceptibly she felt Kakashi slowly increase his pace until he was moving slightly faster than he had originally been moving, his body even more tense than before.

From the corner of her eye she watched Lee's face turn an interesting shade of white, quickly replaced by an even more interesting shade of red. The other member of her select audience seemed to have a better handle on himself. Though, the senbon wielding man wasn't able to prevent the look of momentary raw envy that flashed across his face. Kunoichi rarely offered up their services, whatever they may be, outside of mission or life and death situations without some sort of prompting or an offer of compensation. Unless, of course, they were in some sort of relationship, be it friendship or more. Regardless, the shaggy brown haired man was faintly surprised to see that his silver haired friend fell into any such a category with his former student.

Grinning to herself, she continued to bait the two men, doing her best to ignore Kakashi's slight, but still perceivable reactions. "One of my specialties really, and I've been told I'm quite good." Casually she slid her hands across his shoulders and down onto his arms, as far as she could, brushing her chest against his shoulders. "You of all people should know that _sensei_," she breathed right in his ear, though again loudly enough to be overheard, before slowly dragging her hands back up to rest at the juncture of his neck and shoulders.

She fought hard to contain her mirth at the reactions she was garnering from Genma and Lee, though she momentarily felt a little guilty for springing her little impromptu act on Kakashi, since she could sense that he was having a little trouble with her actions. However, she didn't think he would be _too_ annoyed with her if she could bring a quicker end to the seemingly endless rounds of pushups. Besides, she rationalized to herself, the man read porn in public without so much as a faint blush. To her mind what she was doing to him was fairly minor in comparison and his reactions, such as they were, were really quite insignificant and probably stemmed more from disapproval of her using such dishonorable tactics than anything else.

After a moment's hesitation in anticipation of a reaction from her audience, she decided she would have to go a little further to goad someone into cracking and ending the ridiculous challenge. "Once you finish up here we'll have a nice picnic lunch and then I'll work _all_ the tension and stiffness out." She cocked her head a little as if only just noticing that she had an audience. Her eyes took in the expression of jealousy mixed with envy and a little disbelief on Genma's face and she smiled sweetly at him. "You're welcome to watch if you'd like, Genma." Inwardly she smirked as his face paled a couple shade, though she pretended not to notice and continued, "and if you're all stiff and knotted up too, I suppose I _might_ do _you_ next."

She studied the shaggy brown haired man for a moment or two and he made no move to answer her offer. Inwardly she grinned, she had stunned the infamous letch into silence, which would suit her just fine for the time being.

Her eyes slid on to Lee and she had a very difficult time keeping a straight face. The younger bushy browed man's face was almost purple and his eyes were burning with what she could only guess was righteous anger. A small part of her hated herself for what she was going to do next. The poor man really didn't deserve it, but she was desperate to end the challenge and an even smaller part of her really hoped that maybe Lee would take the hint and give up pursuing her. Deep down she knew he was a nice guy and that he meant well; he just wasn't the right guy for her. She opened her mouth to address Lee only to be preempted by his mentor.

"Enough! I can take no more. I must regretfully concede to my honored rival." Guy ceased his pushups and pulled himself to his feet. He had been watching Lee's reactions to Sakura's teasing, and could allow it to go no further. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he knew Sakura would never be interested in Lee. An optimistic streak in him couldn't help but hope – though after her little display, all hopes, however faint they may have been, were gone.

Startled eyes found their way to the green spandex sporting man but he just shrugged and reached down to give his surprised former student a hand to help him up.

Genma was the first to find his voice. "Eh? That's it? Contest over?"

Sheepishly Guy smiled at the still silent shinobi. "Yes, I concede to Kakashi. But I will vow to work harder and honorably win the next one!" He smiled widely at them and turned to leave. "Come on, Lee, we still have the rest of our daily training to finish before sundown."

"Well then I guess that settles it – Kakashi wins the challenge." The still somewhat bewildered shaggy brown haired man announced feeling a belated sense of reprieve that the ridiculous contest was _finally_ over.

With a sigh of relief, Kakashi ceased his pushups, allowing Sakura to slide from her position on his back, before rising slowly stretching his now cramping limbs.

"But… but… Guy-sensei…" Lee glanced from his former sensei to Kakashi and Sakura and back, obviously distraught at losing the challenge. "The forfeit…"

"No buts, Lee, we must finish what we've started and we've already burned a lot of daylight today, can't allow Kakashi to get the best of me again now can I?" He paused before exiting the clearing to turn back to the still faintly stunned shinobi. "I'm sure I will see everyone at the pub, and in honor of my esteemed rival's win, first round of drinks on me! I _will_ win the next challenge!" Guy struck one of his signature poses with his arm extended and thumb up before turning to exit the clearing.

Lee started toward the edge of the clearing, appearing to be absolutely miserable though still determined to move on, and quietly waved before seemingly pulling himself together. "Sakura! I vow to work harder and in three months time I _will_ prove to you that _I_ am the man you should chose over Kakashi…" he paused and shot a dark glance at the senbon wielding man, "_or_ Genma!"

"_Wait_ Lee!" Sakura cried as she took a couple steps toward the portion of the clearing where Lee had disappeared, feeling a little panicked at the thought that her long time suitor had misunderstood her actions. "That's _not_…" she trailed off as she realized that he was gone. "_Shit,_" she muttered as she sat down rather heavily under a nicely shaded tree with a slightly dazed expression on her face. Though it had worked, it had also backfired in a rather unanticipated way. "Well _that_ was unexpected." She frowned in thought, wondering what sort of a mistake she may have just made allowing Lee to think she was actually interested in either of the two jonin still remaining in the clearing.

Genma shot her a calculating look, noting her preoccupied state, before deciding a little bit of teasing might be safe. "And here I thought _I_ would be the one to crack first…"

"Oh shut up Genma, I'm trying to think…"

He laughed, "Over did it a little, did you?"

The pink haired woman glared at the shaggy brown haired and decided to ignore his comment, still too preoccupied with the unexpected added result of her ploy to bring a premature end to the challenge. She was annoyed with herself for inadvertently setting Lee on some sort of personal mission to waste the effort further frustrating herself by dealing with the local letch. Instead she focused her attention on her former sensei. "Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" the Copy Ninja responded as he slowly tried to work the kinks from his back, keeping his mind as far away as possible from what she had just been doing to him. He had known that she had meant none of what she had been doing to him, but that didn't stop a small portion of him from wishing that she had.

She flushed a little. "Um, sorry about that, I didn't quite intend…"

Hastily the silver haired man interrupted her, not wanting to think about it too closely, he was having a hard enough time with it as it was without her going into the details. "Don't worry about it Sakura, I know you didn't. Lee is… er, as you know can be a little more excitable than Guy which can make him on occasion a bit unpredictable…" Part of him wanted to laugh at her predicament, he knew she had meant nothing by what she had been doing, he was her former sensei after all. The fact that Lee had acted as he had, just proved that she had probably over done it a little, that's all. Though, an ever increasing part of him wished that she had might have been at least a little serious about some of the comments she had made and to his utter disgust he made no attempt to hide it from himself.

She sighed with relief, she hadn't thought that anyone in the clearing would think her actions to be a serious come on to her former sensei. All she had intended to do was to distract either Lee into slipping out of synch with Guy or Genma into prematurely calling the challenge in their favor. Classic kunoichi skills she seldom was able to use finally put to a good use; at least that was what _she_ had thought of the little scene she had acted out. Shaking her head she tried to clear the troubling thoughts of what Lee would do with his certainty that Sakura had set her eyes romantically on Kakashi or Genma. At the moment there was very little that she could do about it… and there was always the faint hope that Guy, having witnessed Lee's misunderstanding, might set his former student straight while they trained.

After a moment's thought she began to wonder. "Kakashi, what did Lee mean when he said…" she turned to watch him for a moment and giggled. "Come here. I'll finish what I started and fix your back."

The silver haired man eyed her speculatively; he was having some difficulties regaining his usual sense of strict self control after what she had just done and wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let her finish the job. Before he could make any sort of a response, Genma promptly plopped himself in front of her, removing his vest and shirt as he did so.

"Genma!" the pink haired woman exclaimed.

"Aw, c'mon Sakura! You promised!" he whined, trying his best to sound mortally offended and completely disappointed.

She crossed her arms across her chest. "I don't recall making any promises. Though I did mention that maybe _after_ I'd finished with Kakashi, I'd give you a once over." She shoved at his back with one of her feet. "Now move it!"

Grumbling, the senbon wielding man reluctantly vacated the space directly in front of Sakura. When Kakashi didn't make a move to take Genma's place the medic frowned.

"Kakashi, I'm not going to offer again – and if you know what's good for you, you'll let me fix your back." She glared at him, waiting for the stubborn man to give in.

"I thought I heard a mention of lunch first?" he asked in a tone bordering on plaintive, trying to buy himself some more time to pull himself together.

She chuckled, honestly feeling a little hungry herself. "I packed a couple lunches before you picked me up this morning. What did you do with my bag?"

"Is that what's in here then?" Genma asked lifting Sakura's bag. Not waiting for a response he pulled out two boxes. "These look _good_…" he smiled charmingly at her, blatantly trying to get himself a share of some of the food.

"Ah, yes those are them, can you give them to Kakashi please?" she sweetly returned his smile, not giving in to his obvious hint.

Grumbling, he reluctantly handed the boxes to Kakashi, who raised an eyebrow at her over the fact that she had made two.

She flushed faintly, "I guess I rather suspected that I wouldn't be eating lunch alone today…" She shook her head, remembering what she had originally asked the silver haired man to do. "Okay, now you have your lunch. Sit." She pointed at the grass in front of her expectantly.

After a few long moments the man in question sighed loudly, pulled off his undershirt, keeping his mask in place and moved to sit in front of the expectant kunoichi, handing her one of the boxes as he did so. Without hesitation she started working on his back to remove the knots she had genuinely felt while teasing Genma and Lee. As she moved her hands, concentrating a little to combine actual healing with the massage, her mind wandered for a moment before returning to what she had started to ask Kakashi earlier.

Genma watched the two with obvious envy, though also with some hope that there may be leftovers and that Sakura would make good on her offer and work on him next.

"Kakashi?" she asked again, wondering if he had pulled one of his little novels from somewhere to help pass the time as she could tell he wasn't eating.

"Mmmm?" he vocalized. His lunch lay unopened and forgotten on his lap. He was having a hard time concentrating on anything with her hands once again expertly moving across his shoulders and back – _especially_ after the little act she had just put on for Lee and Genma's benefit. It had taken everything he had not to react more than he had and now that she had started again he was finding himself once again on the same dangerously slippery slope in an even more precarious position than before since her movements were no longer restricted by his pushups or the thin material of his shirt.

"What was the forfeit Lee was asking Guy about? He seemed really upset, what on earth could you possibly be making Guy do?"

Hastily pulling himself as together as possible he tried to evade the question, knowing she wouldn't like the answer. "Oh, it's nothing really… nothing to worry about anyway." The silver haired man, who had been well on his way to becoming completely relaxed, tensed almost imperceptibly under her hands.

Genma laughed, unable to contain himself. Guy had confided in him and Lee while explaining the rules and the shaggy brown haired man had had a hard time believing that Sakura had actually agreed to the forfeit. Now he knew that she hadn't known a thing about it. "It's most certainly _not_ nothing! Poor Lee has to say away from you for the next three months!"

Surprised she turned her attention from Kakashi to the older man, "What? _Really_?"

"Oh yes… but if you guys had _lost_…" he trailed off upon taking note of a dark glare and waves of pure malice coming from the Copy Ninja. Hastily he backed up a couple steps and shook his head. "Never mind. The important thing is that you guys won, right? Um, I think I'll be going… I seem to have forgotten about… something I should be doing on the other side of the village now…"

Feeling faintly startled at the lecherous man's uncharacteristic flight she sat in silence for a moment, her hands still resting on Kakashi's shoulders. "Kakashi, what was the forfeit if _you_ lost?" her voice was deceptively sweet as she could already tell that she wouldn't like whatever it was Kakashi had wagered on their behalf. While she was waiting for his answer she pushed his shoulders forward a bit rougher than necessary, signaling to him that she wanted him to lie down on his stomach so she could continue her ministrations. Automatically he complied and she shifted herself into a kneeling position next to him to continue with the healing massage, albeit a little rougher than necessary.

"It was nothing Sakura, really. Genma was right, all that really matters is that I didn't lose and, to be quite honest, I had no intention of losing." He grunted as she started working a bit more vigorously than strictly necessary on a particularly stubborn knot. Thinking fast he tried to divert her attention. "I believe I owe you dinner, somewhere 'nice' as you have put it? Did you have a particular place in mind?" he asked with hopes of getting her to forget about the challenge and forfeit.

Her hands paused, momentarily distracted as she hadn't really expected him to make good on her earlier demand. "Eh… No, I didn't have anywhere in mind, though I would like to go to a restaurant where reservations are mandatory and standard issue shinobi gear is against the dress code…" she paused again in thought. "Do you even _have_ clothes that aren't standard issue or clearly that of some sort of warrior for hire?"

He chuckled. "Despite what you may believe about my wardrobe, it's more than adequate for any social situation."

Sakura's hands started moving normally again. "Oh really? I must admit that I'll believe it when I see it…" She continued on for a couple minutes, soothing out some of the nastier kinks, though finding herself in need of better leverage. Cautiously she moved into a kneeling position straddling his lower back to gain the leverage she wanted.

"You'll just have to wait and see then. I've mission immunity until midnight tomorrow, all those recent back to backs I did, so it's either tomorrow night or…" he trailed off realizing that her knees were pressing against either side of his back.

She laughed and hit his head lightly. "Or nothing right?"

He grunted as her hands started moving again and hit a particularly painful area, grateful for the distraction, and managed to pull his mind back to their conversation. "Take it or leave it Sakura."

"I'll take it!" she exclaimed with a smile. "If reservations are involved you'll actually have to be on time, and that's definitely something I can't miss!"

Unable to help himself he chuckled. "I'll make the reservation for eight then and meet you at your place at half past seven."

She continued to work on him in silence for a couple minutes, concentrating entirely on fixing his back. All thoughts of asking Kakashi about the forfeit were gone at the prospect of not only getting the famously frugal Copy Ninja to buy her an expensive dinner, in civilian clothing no less, but also at the fact that he would be forced to be on time. After a few more moments of thoughtful silence her curiosity got the better of her. "So where are we going?"

"You'll find out when we get there…" he trailed off with a sigh as her hands finally smoothed the last knot from his shoulders.

She slapped the back of his head again playfully, "That's no fair! How am I supposed to know what to wear?"

"Hmm, that is a tough one isn't it?" he made a move to push himself back up into a sitting position only to find that she wasn't moving from her position pinning him to the ground.

"Kakashi! I'm serious I need to know!" she almost whined.

Unintentionally his mind went back to Sakura's birthday party and the gift the lecherous senbon wielding man had given to her. "I've been told you can't go wrong with a little black dress?" he hazarded, partially hoping that she would wear the one Genma had bought for her, regardless of the fact that the shaggy haired jonin had asked her not to.

As she was contemplating the merits of his suggestion her stomach forcefully reminded her that lunch time was long over due. Without another thought she moved back into a more comfortable position under the tree, picking up and opening her lunch. "Okay then, dinner tomorrow at a place of your choosing."

With an inward sigh of relief he rose and stretched before turning to smile at her. "Thanks Sakura, I feel better than I did when we started."

She flushed a little. "No problem Kakashi, really anytime."

"I'll have to remember that…" He winked, or rather she thought he winked. "See you tomorrow then." With a wave he took his leave, stealthily snatching the unopened lunch on his way from the clearing. Kakashi had intended on staying to have lunch with her, but figured it would just be asking for trouble. He had thought fast and been able to distract her from asking again about the forfeit he had agreed to on her behalf, lingering with her would only give Sakura more time to remember and try to corner him into answering her questions.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Missions

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Happy is that I'm posting much sooner, (yes I'm still technically late) than I had thought I would be. Many, many, many thanks to FlameTwirler and Fatpuppy for their help! Snaps to AvidReaderAlso for your last minute 'mother henning.' ;p I really do appreciate your aid. :)

Huge thank yous to all who have been reading and reviewing! I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed with the response this silly bit of a fic has been receiving. Thank you! It sounds corny and probably insincere, but I really am genuinely thrilled that people seem to like it.

Next week I'll be dealing with real life 'issues' and will not be posting a one shot as per my usual schedule. Meaning that if all goes well (I've barely started writing chapter nineteen…) I'll be posting chapter nineteen in three weeks instead of my usual two – it's unavoidable, I'm sorry.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Missions 

Sakura carefully finished arranging the combs in her hair to her liking just as the clock on her wall clicked to seven thirty. With a sigh she smoothed down her dress and took one last look at herself in the mirror. She had debated over which one of her several black dresses she should wear for the evening before settling on one. Before coming to her final decision she even tried on the one Genma had given to her for her birthday and had been pleasantly surprised to find that though he may a letch, he was a letch with _taste_ as the dress looked better on her than she could have imagined. The pink haired woman had been sorely tempted to wear Genma's dress regardless of the fact that he had asked her not to, but had rather reluctantly realized that she was probably going through a little more effort than she really should seeing as she was going out with her former teacher. After all, it wasn't like it was a date or anything. In the end, she decided on a dress she had recently purchased for an event that she had ended up missing due to a last minute mission.

Finished with the mirror she started toward her kitchen to wait – she was sure Kakashi wouldn't be on time, but wasn't sure just how late he would be. The pink haired kunoichi was anxious for the silver haired man to arrive, not only so they wouldn't miss their reservations, but because she had a little matter to discuss with him: his latest and most inscrutable, though thankfully private, gift to date. Vaguely she contemplated starting a small pot of tea for while she waited when someone knocked at her door.

Feeling completely dumbfounded, the clock still very clearly read seven thirty, she changed course to answer the door. Upon opening it she found someone completely unexpected.

"Hideki!" she exclaimed with some surprise. It had been a while since she had last seen him. Her landlord just hadn't been around as much as he had been previously – not that she was complaining. He still made her feel uncomfortable for reasons she couldn't quite define and as far as she was concerned the less she saw of him the better.

"Wow, Sakura you look… beautiful," the bespectacled man let slip before visibly pulling himself together to try greeting her again. "Er, good evening."

She flushed a little. "Thank you. I'm going to dinner with Kakashi tonight, somewhere nice." The pink haired woman smiled at her landlord, wondering what he could possibly want with her and why he seemed to flinch when she mentioned her former sensei's name.

"Oh that sounds very… With Kakashi you say?" he asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Yes, he owes me dinner in return for a favor. Actually he _should_ be here any minute, though I couldn't really say when he will _actually_ arrive."

The brown haired man seemed to lose a little of the color in his already pale face. "I see, well then I won't keep you…" he turned as if to walk away without mentioning why he decided to stop by her apartment.

"Hideki?" she called, still wondering why he had decided to pay her a visit. "Is there something I can do for you?"

He hastily turned back to look at her. "Oh, um I nearly forgot… Are you having trouble with your… hot water?" Hideki fumbled, obviously very nervous as he seemed unable to prevent himself from fidgeting in place.

"Oh, um no, not that I'm aware of anyway. Why?" she asked.

He waved his hand negligently and took a step away. "Ah, good… um, good. Er, some of the other tenants are having issues with their hot water… I've just been trying to… um, ascertain just which apartments have been affected… Good to hear that you haven't been…" He waved, still inching away from her. "I really must be going… Got to find the source of that hot water issue. Good evening."

Feeling puzzled she wondered at his hasty departure and clearly fabricated reason for paying her a visit. Hideki had started to panic after she had mentioned that Kakashi was due at her apartment any minute and she had stopped seeing him around the apartment building around the time she had returned from her hot spring holiday...

Quickly she dismissed the idea from her mind – there was _no way_ that Kakashi had been threatening or intimidating her landlord into staying away from her. He had no reason to do such a thing. Furthermore her friends, in Kakashi's presence, had been dead set on setting her up with Hideki, not keeping the vaguely creepy man away from her.

Another knock interrupted her as she pondered the peculiar visit. Rushing to her door she noted that it was now seven forty-five and though she didn't know where they were going, she was fairly certain they would probably be late if they didn't hurry. She opened the door and was relieved to see Kakashi waiting for her. Her relief quickly turned to surprise as she noted that not only was he wearing civilian clothes, but he also looked quite good in them.

He smirked at her surprise, fairly confident in the fact that she couldn't make it out beneath his mask. "'Evening Sakura, you look lovely tonight." He was pleased to note that she was wearing a little black dress as he had suggested, though he couldn't be sure if it was the one that Genma had given her. She was also wearing the hair combs he had given her for her birthday and for some strange reason he had a little thrill of pleasure every time he noticed that she was wearing them.

Still a little astonished she opened her door wide enough to allow him inside. "Hello Kakashi…Thank you." She blushed a little. "You, um, clean up pretty nice."

The silver haired man chuckled as he entered her apartment. He knew that he looked good in his dark dress pants paired with a dark lightweight sweater and a discrete eye patch replacing his forehead protector. He had to admit, to his inner annoyance, that he was enjoying her reaction. "Are you just about ready? We'll miss our reservations if…"

"I'm all set," she interrupted him as she hastily grabbed her purse from the kitchen table where she had intended to wait for him.

He raised an eyebrow at her taking a purse but knew better than to say anything. Instead he offered her his arm, which she took with a smile and a lingering faint blush.

"So where are we going?" she asked with obvious curiosity. Sakura had been wondering ever since he had refused to tell her the day before.

"You'll see when we get there."

"Aw, Kakashi!" She huffed as she cuffed him lightly on the shoulder in an attempt to pull her arm away from him.

He laughed and tightened his grip on her, not allowing the pink haired medic to slip away from him. "Too impatient, we'll be there in a couple minutes."

She sighed loudly and glared at him for a moment before choosing to let it slide; he _was_ taking her out to dinner after all. Instead she decided to bring a little matter that had left her wondering.

"So, cherries, Kakashi?" she asked with an eyebrow raised inquiringly.

"Cherries?" he responded feeling faintly confused until he remembered his latest stealthy delivery. "Ah, yes cherries… What about them?"

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed with a little frustration. "What on earth possessed you to buy…"

"I thought it only fair to replace what I'd ruined… What you don't like them?" he asked, managing to sound a little hurt at the idea of her not appreciating his gift.

She looked at him in complete disbelief trying to ascertain just how serious he was with his gift. "Seriously Kakashi… _Cherries_?"

"_I_ rather liked them. I think they're cute."

She glared at him suspiciously, trying to find an imperfection in his façade; she knew he _had_ to be having a good laugh at her expense. "You do realize I'm twenty-two, right?"

He nodded, barely able keep his gaze from wandering over her figure and the certain attributes that clearly spoke of her age, as it would not only ruin his entire act and therefore amusement, but mostly likely earn him a violent reaction from the kunoichi. "Of course."

"And you thought that an appropriate motif would be…"

"Cherries? Yes, I figured you must get tired of people getting you things with cherry _blossoms_…"

"So you went with the _fruit_?"

"Hmm, that's right."

Tilting her head to the side she decided to try one more time. "Kakashi… You _do_ realize that I…"

"Here we are," he interrupted her as they arrived in front of one of the nicer low profile restaurants in the village. Inwardly he heaved a sigh of relief, as he had not expected Sakura to go quite as far as she had to try and convince him that he hadn't exactly given her an age appropriate gift – though, if she chose to look for it there was a _very_ inappropriate angle to his gift and he had to wonder if she had thought of it. Quickly he dismissed the idea as she hadn't tired to hurt him yet, as surely she would have done if she had realized the potential naughty implication of his gift.

With some surprise she looked up to take in their surroundings and sighed, though partially in relief as she couldn't believe what she had just been about to say to her former sensei – especially since she knew the pajamas _had_ to be a joke. There was just no way he could seriously expect a grown woman to wear the girlishly cut – though adult sized – pink, red and white pajamas. The frilly tank top was printed with cherries while the shorts featured a large pair of the berries strategically positioned on the rump. She honestly couldn't imagine anyone older than five or six wearing such childishly girly apparel and had to wonder just what sort of a shop he had have gone to in order to make the purchase and what kind of a response he had gotten from the clerk – he wasn't exactly the sort of man one would expect to be purchasing such clothing.

Once she finally took in their surroundings she was delighted to see that it was one of the restaurants she had heard about and had always wanted to try, but had never had the chance or occasion. Absently she wondered how he had known and how they had managed to be only five minutes late for their reservations when it should have taken them longer to get there.

The young medic was more than aware of the stares they collected as the hostess set out to show them to their table. Apparently his unspoken but understood plan to go to a smaller restaurant off the beaten path for most shinobi wasn't enough to prevent people from noticing and recognizing them. She shrugged, he was her former sensei and current friend, why shouldn't they go out for a nice dinner? Just as she decided that she really didn't care about the other patrons she noticed something that made her wish they hadn't been so close to punctual for their reservations.

Discretely she tried to hurry the hostess only to find that her efforts were already too late.

"Miss Haruno!" a young voice carried across the restaurant too clearly for her to convincingly pretend not to have heard. "What are _you_ doing here? Are you here to eat with…" she hesitated, remembering her gossip partner's comments about Sakura's silver haired companion, "your father?"

With a sigh she detoured from the route that was being set by the hostess to stop and say hello to Mine and she guessed the medic in training's parents, gesturing to Kakashi to continue on to their table. The threesome appeared to be just finishing their dessert, and if they had been late enough to miss their reservation then they probably would have missed the exuberant and inquisitive student medic as well.

"Hello Mine, nice to see you. Congratulations on passing your first level exam!" Sakura smiled at the young medic to be and nodded at the older man, undoubtedly a shinobi himself, and woman sitting with the girl

The blonde girl giggled and grinned, "Thanks! I _never_ thought I was going to pass, but Kotoko helped me… a _lot_, and I did!"

The woman at the table smiled kindly at Sakura; she was clearly not a kunoichi to the pink haired medic's observant eye. "You must be the Miss Haruno Mine has been talking about so much lately. Thank you for being so kind to our daughter."

"Oh! Not at all!" The pink haired medic blushed a little, "Mine is a joy to have around the hospital. It's always nice to have a cheerful and smiling face around. She does wonders with some of the elderly, er _grumpier_, patients."

The older man's eyes widened as Sakura spoke and a couple things connected in his mind. "_Sakura_ Haruno?"

"Um, yes?"

"I had no idea that _you_ were Mine's Miss Haruno. I'm honored to have you at the hospital helping to teach my Mine." He inclined his head a little in respect, much to Sakura's embarrassment. "You helped save my team when we barely made it back from…" he trailed off with a sideways glance at his daughter who was staring at him with wide eyes, obviously she had been unaware of any near fatal incidents involving her father. He coughed a little. "Well yes anyway I'm very thankful for what you did…"

"Oh, uh you're very welcome. I'm sure that it was nothing, really…" she trailed off as she sensed Kakashi's presence behind her.

The impatient silver haired man placed a hand on her shoulder to gently pull her slightly away from the table. "Please excuse us. Our server is getting a little impatient as to our order…" He smiled at the woman and girl, and nodded at the man. "Evening Shin."

"_Kakashi?_ I wouldn't have expected to see _you_ here." Mine's father blinked in surprise. "I almost didn't recognize you in civvies."

The silver haired man laughed, choosing not to comment.

Taking Kakashi's not so subtle cue she took a step away from the table and waved. "Have a nice night! I'll see you at the hospital Mine." She turned toward the blonde girl's parents and smiled. "It was nice meeting you."

As they walked away Sakura heaved a sigh of relief and tried not to appear to be listening to Mine's father scolding her for her apparent lack of respect for Kakashi. She had to laugh and feel slightly embarrassed at the apparent fact that Mine had chattered not only about her, but about Kakashi to her parents – so much so that they seemed to be picking up and reiterating an old conversation. Unable to stop herself she slowed their pace to catch some of the points of their argument.

"But _daddy_," Mine whined, "he's _old_ and a little scary looking…"

"He's younger than _I_ am, but that's beside the point! He's a jonin, became one when he was _your_ age… He's one of the elite, and he deserves more respect from you…"

The blonde girl huffed noisily, "I don't care, Kotoko and I _still_ find him a bit creepy… Never mind the fact that we think he's Miss Haruno's secret admirer… and Miss Haruno deserves a _better_ secret admirer! Someone young like she is and… _hot_, he definitely has to be someone _hot_!"

As the discussion became more and more embarrassing for the pink haired medic to overhear she tried to rush Kakashi along, only to find that he was now the one lingering a little to try and catch the conversation.

"_Mine_," her father admonished sternly, feeling his face flush with embarrassment at his daughter's silly ideas. "He was her genin sensei, for crying out loud! We all keep in touch with our sensei even after graduating and moving on. Besides he doesn't need to sneak around the hospital to give her something. If he wanted to give her something I'm fairly certain he would just give it to her. _He_ doesn't have to worry about a lot of things other men might have to take into consideration…"

"Wow… He was _her_ sensei? He _is_ old," Mine uttered without thinking about her father's comment about his own age being greater than Kakashi's.

"Mine!" her mother rebuked her, trying to contain her mirth at her daughter's uncontrived comments.

Doing her best not to laugh Sakura clung to the older man's arm to prevent him from doing something unnecessary and pushed him on to their own table – thankfully outside of hearing range of the bickering family.

She sighed contentedly as she took his arm upon exiting the restaurant. It had been a fantastic meal despite the occasional strange or disapproving looks they garnered from some of the other patrons. Honestly she didn't particularly care all that much; he was her former sensei after all and there was nothing wrong with the two of them going out to eat together.

Granted it _was_ quite a nice restaurant, far beyond Ichiraku or any of the other places most of her friends occasionally met up with _their_ sensei, but then again she figured she was probably closer to Kakashi than they were with their genin sensei. There was also the fact that he _did_ pay, which honestly surprised her as she had figured he might try to either weasel out of paying entirely or insist that at the very least she pay half.

As they walked along in companionable silence it slowly dawned on her that, had he not been her former sensei, she would have considered the evening to be a date – and a very successful one at that considering she had definitely enjoyed both the meal and the company. Hastily she tried to shove the thought from her mind, finding to her dismay that it had deep roots and was not as easily pushed aside as the other thoughts of Kakashi she had deemed inappropriate.

"_Damn,_ Sakura! That dress is wasted on someone like Kakashi!" an irritatingly familiar voice interrupted her thoughts as the shaggy brown haired senbon wielding man landed in front of them.

Sakura stopped abruptly as Kakashi halted at the sound of Genma's voice. She looked up at him feeling a little surprised as she felt him pull his arm and consequently _her_ a little closer to him.

"What do you want Genma?" He sighed, not really wanting to deal with the letch, but still thankful for his interruption. The silver haired man had enjoyed having dinner with Sakura but was starting to realize as he walked her home that the evening was starting to feel uncomfortably similar to a date which was the absolute _last_ thing he wanted to think about – or have get around to the gossip mill.

Genma grinned, his ever present senbon shifting to allow the wide almost predatory smile. "I should think it would be fairly obvious by now…" he hastily pulled himself up short upon noting the un-amused expression on his silver haired friend's face. The brown haired man cleared his throat. "Right, I was looking for you."

"What? Me?" Kakashi asked, feeling as though it really was a mixed blessing.

"Yes, _you_. Guy has had a little too much to drink tonight at the pub and we're having some issues getting him to go home to sleep it off. I guess he's still a little upset at losing that challenge to you... and might have been led on to believe that drinking several bottles of a particularly potent sake would give him an edge in your next competition. Must have taken that last challenge a little too seriously. He really thought that in winning he would finally give Lee that chance with Sakura he has been trying for _years_ to get…"

Sakura's interest in the conversation suddenly increased. "Excuse me, can you elaborate on that Genma?" she asked sweetly, shaking her hand from Kakashi's arm and stepping away from the silver haired man before he could try to prevent her from doing so.

With feigned surprise Genma turned his attention to the pink haired woman. "Oh? So Kakashi never got around to telling you what he wagered on that little challenge yesterday?"

"No, he didn't. Just what _was_ it that he promised on my behalf? Should he lose, of course…"

"Ah, well then," he took in the dark glare he was receiving from the Copy Ninja and hastily made an offer. "Why don't I walk you home and tell you all about it?"

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, torn between accepting his offer or demanding an explanation from the less than forthcoming silver haired man.

Sensing the kunoichi's indecision Genma decided to give her a push in the right direction. "Kakashi, you should really go get Guy… The staff was threatening to ban all shinobi if he were to make another scene…" Genma smirked, safe in the knowledge that the taijutsu master tended to only respond to his 'eternal rival' when in advanced stages of intoxication. Kakashi was the only one able to handle Guy when he was more than pleasantly drunk and the Copy Ninja knew it.

The silver haired man stood for a couple moments, beyond annoyed, trying to find an alternative that would allow him to deal with Guy but also prevent Genma from walking Sakura home and telling her about the forfeit. Unfortunately his mind failed him and he was unable to find a way around his senbon wielding friend's obviously well planned crossroad. Calming his anger, after all he wasn't annoyed with _her_, he was able to smile at the pink haired woman. "Good night Sakura…" He paused, feeling as though he should at least try to say _something_ that may assuage her anger once Genma told her what he agreed she would do if he lost. "I had no intentions of allowing us to lose _or_ pay the forfeit…"

Slightly surprised that Kakashi had given into Genma's obvious ploy to get her alone, though not sure why she should be, Sakura returned his smile wondering just _how_ bad the forfeit could have been for him to try one last time to remind her that he had not even thought of the possibility that she may have to pay it. "'Night… and thank you, Kakashi."

He waved and turned, with a murderous glare at Genma, before taking to the roofs to go deal with the drunken taijutsu master. Still his mind was firmly with the pink haired medic and her sure to be explosive reaction upon finding out what he had promised on her behalf. He sighed; Sakura was likely to kill him the next time she saw him unless he could come up with a better distraction than a nice evening out.

* * *

"You're late," the irritated blonde woman stated flatly as he entered the room. 

He shrugged. She should know better than to expect _him_ to be on time. "I'm sorry, I seem to have lost track of the time."

She glared at him for a moment before huffing with annoyance. The busty woman shifted her attention to her desk, which was piled with documents. After a couple moments' search she tossed a mission scroll at the perpetually late shinobi.

He caught it and immediately broke the seal to scan its contents as she started speaking.

"This should be a fairly straightforward mission – missing girl, suspected that she ran away with her boyfriend and has been living in a nearby village. Generally I would just send you out on this one as a solo, but because of the nature of the girl in question's chosen profession – she's a dancer, classic not club – we'll need to send a kunoichi with you as I hardly suspect you'll easily be able to infiltrate the backstage areas of some of the classier places she may be hiding..." she laughed, as though a thought just occurred to her "Unless you're willing to dress in drag, and even then," she looked him up and down with a smirk, "I rather think you'd make an ugly woman and an improbable dancer."

Not allowing Tsunade's disparaging remarks to concern him he concentrated on the part of the mission that interested him the most. "I'll take…"

"Sakura is not available," she interrupted, before he could start in on what she was beginning to suspect may become a big problem if not dealt with soon. Unfortunately for her she really didn't want to have to be the one to make him deal with it.

"What? I was just out with her last night and she didn't mention…"

"_You_ were who she was out with last night?" she asked with some surprise. The problem she had thought she was staying on top of seemed to be much larger than she had realized. She had summoned Sakura first thing that morning and had noticed right off that the kunoichi had been tired and perhaps even a little hung-over, which was not at all like the pink haired woman.

He shrugged. "I owed her dinner and we both had the evening off. She didn't mention a mission in the morning though." He frowned, wondering why she hadn't thought to mention it to him. "I wouldn't have kept her out as late as I did if I had known."

The blonde woman shook her head. "She didn't know about it until this morning and left at first light with her escort."

His eye widened in surprise. "Escort?" he queried, immediately wondering just what sort of a mission it was and why _he_ hadn't been included – the mission he had just been given could have been taken by any decently experienced tracker.

"Yes, _escort_. Sakura's presence, to the tune of a nice hefty fee for the village, has been requested… elsewhere." She laughed at the surprise he hadn't been able to prevent from skittering across his face. "Your former student may spoil you guys rotten with the house calls and preferential treatment, but when all is said and done she _is_ an excellent medic whose skills are in more demand than you realize... especially in light of the research she has been working on." Reining in her mirth she managed to pull her mind back to the business at hand. "I'll be sending Ino with you for this mission. She has plenty experience and the two of you should be back fairly quickly."

He nodded absently, still stuck on the thought that not only had Sakura been requested and Tsunade had acquiesced, but the hokage had not seen fit to send _him_ along with the pink haired medic. "Who…" he started to ask before she interrupted him.

"Did I send with Sakura?" The Hokage eyed him suspiciously before sighing. She knew anything she may try to say to him about the fact that the mission was classified would be ignored. Kakashi _would_ find out, one way or another, the identities of the two shinobi she had chosen to send as Sakura's escort. The easiest thing to do would just be to tell him and save them both some trouble. "Raido and I wanted to send Guy, but he was in no fit state to participate, so Genma volunteered to go in his stead."

"I see," his voice had a slight edge to it at being overlooked. He also hadn't missed the fact that Tsunade had said that Genma had _volunteered_, implying that he had been hanging around hokage tower at the crack of dawn – certainly not one of the lecherous man's usual loitering locations.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at his rather childish behavior and decided to throw him a bone of sorts to keep his nose from getting too bent out of joint. A sulky Copy Ninja tended to cause more trouble than she was willing to put up with. "For that particular mission it _had_ to be Sakura and I _couldn't_ send Naruto, Sasuke or you with her. She was wanted for her research, and I rather doubt any of the three of you would like to be roped in and studied by other medics since you just _happened_ to be there?" She raised an eyebrow inquiringly at the dark eyed shinobi who shook his head slightly. "Didn't think so, and neither did Sakura – though they probably thought that by requesting her they would be almost as good as guaranteed to get at _least_ one of the three of you as well. But that's beside the point – you're here to pick up your mission, not question what I have chosen to do with one of your former students." She gestured impatiently at him. "So go, Ino has probably been waiting for you at the gate for at least an hour."

* * *

"Genma! I said _no_!" Sakura exclaimed for what felt like the millionth time as the letch tried once again to convince her to change into the cooler clothes worn by a scant few of the local nurses and based on something either from or inspired by Naruto's Pervy Sage's little orange books. Just where Genma had managed to get a replica of the particular 'naughty nurse' uniform – the same one Kakashi had cheekily suggested she wear to treat him – she would never know and certainly didn't want to ask. Raido, the more sane of the two shinobi, had chosen to stay at the hospital, having declined to go with them to a small noodle place outside the medical complex for lunch. 

"Aw, c'mon Sakura! The medics here…" he tried as they made their way back to the hospital for her sessions.

"Are conservative and stuffy, at least the ones I'm working with are," she finished his sentence, feeling tired of discussing it with him. "It's hard enough working with them as it is. Never mind the problems I would have wearing something I suspect may come from the pages of something like Icha Icha! Just forget about it!"

He sighed heavily in defeat. "Fine, fine…" he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You sure you won't even just try it on for…"

"Genma," she growled warningly, "I swear…"

"Alright, alright! I'll leave it alone."

"Good." She turned to him as they entered the room she had been using as her office. "I'll probably be in here for the rest of the day, you know the drill."

He sighed; as much as he had wanted to get himself assigned to the mission he was finding that it was boring beyond belief. Sakura had been spending _days_ locked up in the office assigned to her with her host medics and Raido, while he kept an eye on things outside. Granted he had figured the mission would probably be something along those lines, but he had hoped that in their down time he might have been granted a chance to get to know the kunoichi better. Unfortunately his hopes had been in vain as her free time, such as it was, was entirely taken up by their hosts – by no means was he the _only_ shinobi in town interested in the pink haired medic.

* * *

"Kakashi! Hold up a little, will ya?" the blonde woman struggling to keep up with the older man finally cried with some exasperation. 

Startled out of his reverie he turned to find that his teammate had fallen quite a ways behind him. He cursed himself for the fact that he once again found himself thinking of Sakura and had consequently been distracted from what was going on with his partner for the mission. He watched her for a moment, noting that her limp was much more pronounced than it had been when they had started out for home that morning.

"I thought you said it was only a slight sprain, nothing to be worried about?" He frowned. He was tired and just wanted to get back to the village, but if she had injured herself it would take them even _longer_ to get back. As it was, the mission had taken much more time than it should have, something of which he was at least partially suspicious of as the blonde woman had taken every opportunity to subtly – and not so subtly – express an interest of a romantic nature in him. He had _thought_ that the slight injury she had incurred while performing the previous evening had been her latest attempt in attaining more of his attention. Thinking back on it he realized that if she had _genuinely_ injured herself, the pace he had been setting would definitely have not helped matters for her, though it probably did reinforce his image as a hardass in her mind.

She finally managed to catch up to him, limping quite seriously. Glaring at him she came to a halt next to Kakashi. "It _was_ a slight sprain. I think it's rather progressed now." With a heavy sigh she hopped a couple more steps to a conveniently fallen tree trunk by the side of the path and eased herself down onto it. As soon as she was seated she carefully removed her sandal from her foot and unwrapped her ankle and calf, hissing a little as she did so – removing the support of the wrappings only served to increase her pain.

Feeling slightly guilty for pushing her too much when, he was now convinced, she was genuinely injured he knelt down to take a look at her leg. Forgetting himself for a moment he carefully ran his hands over her ankle and partially up her calf, looking for a better assessment as to the extent of her injury.

At her hiss of mingled pain and surprise he glanced up and upon seeing Ino instead of Sakura, he quickly remembered himself and hastily removed his hands from her calf. Clearing his throat he rose to survey their surroundings while he tried to plan their next course of action. With an inward groan he realized that the sun was due to set shortly and, though he was fairly familiar with the terrain, he wasn't particularly pleased, especially with the prospect of having to have to seek lodgings in the area for the night. Sighing to himself he turned back to the clearly slightly baffled kunoichi.

"Can you heal it?"

She shook her head and frowned. "I'm _not_ Sakura."

He flinched a little, knowing that he had on more than one instance most likely irked her by expecting her to act and react as his former student would.

Noting his slight sign of culpability she continued slightly less harshly. "Maybe before I pushed it a little too hard I might have been able to mend it… But now it's gone beyond my talents."

"Alright," He had to consciously keep himself from sighing. "There's a small village with a hotel a couple miles away. We can spend the night there and have someone in the village look at your leg in the morning."

She opened her mouth to protest that there was no way she would be able to get there on her own but he acted before she could put voice to her thoughts. Kakashi stooped back down to her level and quickly lifted her from the tree trunk before heading off toward the small village. Ino squeaked a little in surprise but otherwise stayed silent and hastily clung to the now rapidly traveling man. She had been wondering throughout the course of the mission how Sakura could deal with such a mission minded man on a regular basis as he had been _entirely_ focused on the task at hand from the moment they left the village and completely distant on everything else. It left no time for fun or getting to know the stoic man as she had originally hoped.

Upon returning to the village from the hot spring resort she had spent some time thinking about her former rival's former sensei and his penchant for little orange books. Actually, to tell the truth the blonde woman had been wondering about them for quite a while. Finally she had decided to pick one up to see what all the fuss was about. After finishing the novel, with a deep blush, she had found herself going back to reread the deceptively well written prose, again and again, until she had broken down and purchased all other available volumes in the series. Once she finished all available novels in the Icha Icha series she found that she had a new respect for Jiraiya and a strong desire to find a man familiar with the series and try a few things. To that end the blonde kunoichi had promptly dumped her senbon wielding bedtime buddy in search of someone with different qualifications.

Fortune seemed to have smiled on her when the hokage had decided to assign her to an undercover mission alone with the man who had originally sparked her curiosity in the smutty series. Unfortunately, he had been nothing less than completely professional and had ignored all of her standard ploys for attention. After injuring herself the previous evening and receiving no results whatsoever from the stoic man she had pretty much given him up as a lost cause and even started to wonder if it might just be easier to casually introduce the little orange books to one of her past bedmates.

However, with his reaction upon finding that she was genuinely injured, she was surprised to find that it was almost as though he was a different person... at least until he remembered himself and backed off once again. He was definitely a tough nut to crack and she couldn't quite figure if he was even crackable in the first place or worth the effort when she may just as easily find someone else.

Kakashi wasn't too thrilled about returning to the nearby village, especially with a different woman. Unfortunately he didn't really think he had much of a choice unless he wanted to carry Ino all the way back to Konoha. Which, with the way she had been behaving, was definitely _not_ an option. He was tired of dealing with her and just plain wanted the mission to be over.

As he traveled, far quicker now that the injured kunoichi wasn't slowing him down, he hoped fervently that he would not be remembered in the village he was fast approaching. Just in case he was he spent the time trying to think of a good cover story for not only him being there but also for the fact that he was there with Ino instead of Sakura.

Upon entering the familiar hotel he found that his hope had been in vain. As soon as he entered the lobby, helping his mission partner limp along rather than carry her – part of an attempt to try and minimize the reaction he feared – the woman sitting behind the front desk did a double take before practically flying at him with a broom that happened to be within her reach.

"Cheater!! Liar!! _Adulterer_!!" the old woman shrieked as she swatted at the resigned shinobi with the broom, punctuating each word with another swing of the makeshift weapon. Kakashi made a conscious effort not to dodge her blows for fear of irritating her even more. "Molester!! _Pervert_!! Dirty old man!!"

Ino fought hard to contain her amusement at the abuse Kakashi seemed to be taking from the little old lady who apparently ran the hotel. She couldn't imagine what the old woman thought, or rather she could and she found it to be quite unbelievable, though she couldn't imagine who the confused woman thought Kakashi was being unfaithful to.

The old woman paused in both her tirade and abuse to take several deep breaths and prepare herself for another verbal assault and he took it as his cue to carefully state his needs and hope she would calm down enough to accommodate them. Otherwise they have to head off to the next closest village and try to find lodgings and a doctor there.

"Two rooms please."

The hotel manageress inhaled, opened her mouth, and raised her broom to start in on her verbal assault again when she paused in surprise. "_Two_ rooms?"

"That's right, _two_. One for me and one for the lady." He gestured at Ino who couldn't wait to grill the Copy Ninja about the situation once they had secured rooms – it seemed as though there might be a juicy story behind the hotel manageress's reaction.

"One for you and one for her?" the ancient woman asked hesitantly as though slowly testing out the words and their meaning. She narrowed her eyes and lowered the broom. "Where's…"

"She hasn't been feeling well lately; in a delicate condition you know." He smiled and lifted his hand to the back of his head as if embarrassed. "I thought she may appreciate a visit from her best friend from another village, to help cheer her up…" he trailed off hoping the story would appeal to the woman's romantic side – smitten husband moving heaven and earth for his young and pregnant wife. Well, going off to get her friend from another village at the very least. The silver haired man had thought it had sounded appropriately sappy to be something that could be found in one of the romance novels the older woman was addicted to. He had had plenty of time to come up with it as he carried Ino to the village he and Sakura had used as a base of operations while quelling an epidemic.

The effect on the old woman was almost immediate as his fabrication successfully appealed to her romantic side. "Well then! I must say, congratulations are in order!" She grinned almost toothlessly at them and pulled out two separate keys. "You must be sure to convey my well wishes to your wife. To think a man at _your_ age is going to be a father! You must be so excited!"

He laughed nervously as he took the keys from her. "Thank you, and I am. Can't wait to get back to my village…" he paused as though something just occurred to him. "That reminds me, there is a doctor in _this_ village isn't there? My wife's friend here seems to have injured herself on the journey…"

"No problem! We've the finest doctor for miles right here in this village. I'll send word to him and he'll be here first thing tomorrow… I assume you'd probably like to leave as soon as possible?" She winked at him with a knowing smile.

Genuinely feeling a little embarrassed he smiled a little. "Er, yes please. Though don't go through any trouble on our behalf…"

"Oh no, trouble, no trouble at all!! He's my son and hasn't been by to see his poor old mother lately…" She picked up her broom and gestured with it. "It's about time that ungrateful brat paid me a visit!"

Edging away from the woman and her broom slowly, he smiled again at her. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

She gestured with the bristled stick negligently. "Don't worry about it. Just get home to your wife where you belong!"

"What the hell was that all about?" Ino hissed as he helped her down the hall to her assigned room, located on the exact opposite side of the hotel as his – to prevent 'temptation' he guessed.

He sighed, not wanting to get into it with the nosey kunoichi. "Nothing to worry about."

"Oh come on Kakashi, I _know_ there has got to be a reason for her to react as strongly as she did… Now what is it? And what was that nonsense about you having a wife who's expecting?" She tried very hard not to laugh at the idea.

He glared, not wanting to tell her, but figuring it would be better if she heard his brief and highly edited version as opposed to the old woman's – which was sure to be heavily embroidered with unnecessary hearts and flowers. "I spent a couple months here on a sort of undercover mission and the old woman decided that I was married to my mission partner. She enjoyed giving me marital advice." He shrugged with more annoyance than he would have liked to have displayed. "She meant well I'm sure."

He paused as they reached her room, unlocked the door, and handed her the key.

Surprised, Ino stated at him for a couple minutes with her mouth slightly open, key dangling unnoticed from her hand. "You _can't_ be serious?"

He shrugged, frowning at her obvious amusement.

She finally gave in and laughed, unable to contain it any longer. "I can't wait to tell Sakura about this…" she trailed off as it hit her that the woman in question probably _was _Sakura and she abruptly stopped laughing. "Oh kami! It was _Sakura_, wasn't it?!" She studied his annoyed expression for a moment seeking a confirmation.

"Good night Ino. I'll see you in the morning." He turned and stiffly walked away, trying very hard to ignore the blonde woman's laughter echoing through the corridor.


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Apology

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many, many sorries for the tardiness of this chapter. I had a lot of issues with it and consequently spent much more time on it than usual. I hope it's worth the wait! ; Loads of thanks to those who are still reading! And even more thanks to my betas!

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Apology

Kakashi sighed in relief as he stepped into the hokage's office. He had finally returned from his mission with Ino and was looking forward to some time to himself. In an almost unheard of act he dropped his completed mission scroll in the little box labeled 'In' on Tsunade's desk before she could start questioning him about the mission, never mind demand a report. Usually she had to have someone chase him down to get his mission report several weeks after it was due.

Surprised, she raised an eyebrow at his unusual action and he shrugged.

"Had a little bit of free time on the way home and figured I'd get the report done early for once, not like it was a complicated one to write." He smiled at her stunned expression. "Don't worry. I can assure you that it won't happen again."

Shaking her head Tsunade managed a chuckle at the unexpected behavior of the usually fairly predictable man. "I take it you were successful then? Despite the fact that it took you two weeks longer than it should have?"

"Yes. The girl was, as suspected, hiding in a nearby village with her boyfriend and working as a dancer. It was uneventful if nothing else."

She nodded. "Good."

He turned to leave, expecting to be dismissed but was halted as she spoke to him again.

"You are uninjured I trust?"

Surprised he turned back to her. "Of course, it was a simple tracking mission." He studied her expression looking for a hint of why she may have made the inquiry into his health. Even if he was injured, Sakura would take care of it.

"Good, good." She eyed him for a moment, knowing that he was wondering why she should make a point to ask. With a sigh she gave in, knowing he would find out regardless. "Your medic hasn't returned yet. So if you _had_ been injured she wouldn't be making a house call later on today."

"Oh?" he asked with some hope that she may elaborate. By the way she had phrased it, it sounded as though Tsunade had expected Sakura to have returned already. He waited for a couple moments in hopes that she would elaborate, but when she didn't he continued. "I see. Well it's a good thing I'm not in need of her services then."

* * *

Without thinking much about it he found himself once again loitering outside the Hokage Tower. This time Kakashi had comfortably situated himself holding up a wall with his ever present orange novel in hand. He was near enough to the entryway to have a complete view of all comings and goings in and out of the tower and, though it didn't seem to be the case, very little escaped his notice. A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention as Genma exited the building. 

He hesitated for a moment, undecided as to how he wanted to deal with the senbon wielding man: kill him for telling Sakura about the forfeit or let it go and find out how his recent mission had gone. The decision was taken from his hands when the shaggy brown haired man spotted him and changed direction.

"Kakashi! Didn't think I'd find _you_ this easily." Genma grinned at the younger silver haired man. "I just finished reporting to the Hokage and thought I'd stop at the pub for a couple drinks before heading home. You coming?" When Kakashi made no movement to join him Genma realized a little bit of persuasion might be in order. "_I_ may have just finished reporting to Tsunade, but Sakura… and maybe Raido will be in there for a while… As soon as the discussion got technical I kind of glazed over and the hokage kicked me out." He laughed. "Not much different from the mission I guess."

With a sigh and a practiced movement Kakashi closed and returned his book to his pouch. Nonchalantly he made his way over to his friend, trying not to make it too obvious that he had been waiting for Sakura and was only joining Genma because he had mentioned that the pink haired medic wasn't likely to be emerging from the tower any time soon.

The Copy Ninja hated to admit it, but he knew deep down that he had been hanging around Hokage Tower waiting for Sakura to return to the village and it annoyed him to no end. Now that he knew she was back he was more than a little antsy to see her and consequently not particularly willing to give up his post outside the building. The more rational part of him, however, pointed out that he should find out how she took the news of the nature of the forfeit _before_ seeking her out – hence his final decision to join Genma for a couple drinks rather than wait for his former student to finish reporting to the hokage.

Genma chuckled to himself, realizing that his friend must be slipping to have given in without more of a show of nonchalant disinterest. He had to wonder a moment about the slight change in his friend and what it may mean, if anything, before dismissing it as a momentary lapse of judgment on his part. Kakashi was probably hanging around waiting for the first person he knew to wander along and join them at the pub. Sake always tasted better when the bill was passed off or shared. It didn't happen often, but it wasn't unheard of either.

As they sat down in their usual corner booth Kakashi kept his outward show of disinterest intact, though he was intent to know how Genma's recent mission with his former student had gone. He was also curious to know just how angry she had been when the nature of the forfeit had finally been revealed to her. Shooting his friend a calculating look he wondered if a steady stream of alcohol and a couple subtle questions might loosen the lecherous man's tongue enough to answer his questions. After all, greater men had fallen to such common and clichéd tactics.

Several bottles of sake, mostly imbibed by Genma, later found the brown haired man pleasantly sloshed and willing to talk.

"Y'know when I tole her 'bout you bet wi'Guy, she didn't, didn't act like ex'peted…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow inquiringly, trying hard not to let his genuine interest show. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Was ticked, o' course, look like was gonna s'plode… But…" he trailed off trying to find the right words and promptly forgot what he was saying.

After a couple moments pause Kakashi decided to prompt the obviously tipsy man. "But then?"

"Oh… She... I dunno went quiet. N' then asked me t'leave 'er 'lone. Threatened ta punch me inta nex week when 'tried t'ignore 'er 'n finish walk'n 'er home." He shook his head as though dismissing the memory from his mind before visibly cheering up. "She was 'er sexy 'lil self on t'mission though…" Genma frowned. "Hmm, she wouldn't wear t'outfit I got her... 'n all nurses was wearing 'em too… would 'ave like ta see 'er in it…"

Trying not to react, his curiosity battling with another feeling he didn't want to name, Kakashi prompted his friend. "Oh?"

He sighed. "Too bad too. She'd 'ave look one nice piece of…" abruptly he stopped, shook his head and looked at Kakashi as if he were only just then realizing what he was saying and more importantly who he was saying it to. Pulling himself together faster than he would have thought possible Genma continued. "Nev'r mind… I know she's upset wit' you… bett'r watch 'self 'til she get over it…" Quickly he took one last swig of his sake and rose rather unsteadily from his seat. "I gotta go, tanks f''r drinks." He nodded at Kakashi and set off slowly and carefully in the manner of the intoxicated, trying not to appear to have had too much.

The silver haired jonin remained seated, pondering Genma's comments about how Sakura had reacted upon learning what he had offered up to Guy in the case that they lost the challenge. She hadn't reacted at all as he would have expected, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. A small part of him realized that he may have crossed a line without noticing and accidentally taken her presence for granted. If that was the case then he knew he had some making up to do before getting back into her good graces and he wasn't quite sure how to go about doing it.

* * *

After waiting a couple days to see what Sakura would do he found himself at a loss: she had done nothing. In fact she hadn't even attempted to seek him out or contact him in any way shape or form and the suspense was just killing him. Finally he decided to throw himself on the explosive tag so to speak and 'accidentally' run into her somewhere fairly public and see what happened. After all, having her explode in his face and then having things go back to normal was far preferable to not seeing her on a fairly regular basis for training, meals and the ever present healing sessions – a fact that almost killed him to admit. He had gone on several short missions, less than a day long and not particularly dangerous for a shinobi of his skill, and to his mounting disappointment she had not appeared upon his return to heal any injuries he may have collected. Granted, because of the nature of the missions he had not garnered anything more serious than a few shallow cuts and a couple bruises, but still she had _always_ come to heal him before, no matter how unlikely injuries would be, and he found her absence disconcerting. 

Stealthily he tracked her from her apartment to hokage tower, determined to catch her on her way out. Several hours later he realized to his annoyance that he must have missed her as it was now well past the time she should have reported for her shift at the hospital. Irritated with himself he made his way to her place of work, slipping along side the complex until he came across the portion of the building with her office. Cautiously he sneaked a peek and found that she was indeed there and already working her usual shift.

Once again he settled down to wait with his little orange book keeping him company. After several hours passed, he figured her shift should be ending soon and carefully put his book away. The silver haired man sauntered to the exit he knew Sakura used and readied himself to nonchalantly step into the pink haired kunoichi's path. After ten minutes he once again pulled out his little orange companion to pass the time. An hour later Kakashi realized he must have somehow missed her and he silently cursed himself as he took off for his apartment, starting to get a little annoyed with the whole situation.

After several more failed attempts to catch Sakura he began to realize that she was actually avoiding him, and not only that but she was using the techniques _he_ had taught her to do it! He cursed his soft spot for the pink haired woman as he knew he had taught her just about every technique he knew to avoid someone looking for her. He had done it out of concern for her safety, not only on the battle field but in every day life with suitors like Lee pursuing her… and having her use those techniques against him felt almost like a betrayal.

Unsure how to proceed he withdrew to his apartment to ponder the situation and rethink his plans. He had thought she would just pound on him for a while to work her anger out of her system and then heal him, allowing things to go back to normal. Unfortunately his plan to get back into her good graces no longer seemed likely to work as he had originally hoped.

* * *

"So what's this I hear about you being married to Kakashi?" the blonde woman asked her friend with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

Sakura choked on her tea and spent a couple moments sputtering and trying to regain her breath, much to Ino's amusement "_What_? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Well, after you set off on your last mission I went out on one with your former sensei and we had to make a bit of an emergency stop on the way back, right on the border at this quaint little inn." She nonchalantly took a sip on her tea, wanting to make Sakura squirm as she waited for the information. "Seems the manageress was very upset with Kakashi when we turned up together. Went after him with a broom calling him a cheater and an adulterer…"

Sakura laughed, remembering the little inn she and Kakashi had used as a base of operations while they tried to prevent an epidemic from crossing into the Land of Fire.

Ino shot her a curious glance. She had expected her friend to blush and try to deny it.

"Oh! I remember that place." She laughed, though blushing a faintly - much to Ino's satisfaction. "The little old lady who ran it was particularly fond of romance novels. Kakashi once mentioned that she thought we were married… I thought he was joking. We were sleeping in a room with two _separate_ beds after all, so I couldn't imagine what would make her think that we were _married_…" she trailed off with a shrug.

The blonde kunoichi shot her a dubious glance. "Well one of you must have done something to make her think you were married regardless of the fact that you were sleeping in separate beds…" She sighed. "Though, I honestly cannot imagine anything _he_ might have done to make her think that. It must have been something you did Sakura."

"I really couldn't say," she shook her head. "We didn't act any differently than we normally do… Well maybe Kakashi was a bit more attentive than usual I suppose…"

Ino stopped toying with her teacake to stare at the pink haired woman. "More attentive than usual?" She quirked an eyebrow, having a hard time thinking of Kakashi acting in such a manner. Granted he had picked her up and carried her once he realized that she was genuinely injured, but that was about the only thing he had done that could be considered to be attentive.

Absently Sakura nodded, too lost in her own thoughts of the silver haired man to really pay much attention to what she was saying. "Carrying me in each evening, making sure I ate and slept… you know the usual sort of things."

"Um, Sakura… I don't know about the other kunoichi, but _I've_ never had a team leader do any of that for me…"

"Really, Ino, he's my former sensei. It's not as though he did anything he hadn't done for me before. Besides, it was part of his _job_ during the mission to take care of me because my task during the mission left me in such a state that I was unable to care for myself."

"I don't know Sakura, I think he may have gone a little above and beyond. That old woman thought you two were _married_. Doesn't that strike you as a little odd?"

The pink haired woman shrugged. "I don't know. Sure it was the first time anyone has ever made that mistake, but if it made her happy to think that, and according to Kakashi it did, I don't see why he would go out of his way to correct her… After all it was the only hotel anywhere near where we needed to be. If she took it into her head to throw us out we would be in some serious trouble."

"It's not that… it's just…" she sighed, trying to put something into words that she didn't quite think was possible. For some reason she couldn't quite rectify the man Sakura had just described with the one she had just been on a mission with. "Never mind."

Sakura glanced at her inquisitively, wondering what Ino may have been trying to tell her, but dismissed it as her mind strayed back to Kakashi and the fact that she was currently working very hard to avoid him.

They sat in silence for a few moments before the pink haired woman perked up.

"Oh! If you stayed at that inn you must have seen the old woman's needlework?"

Ino's eyes widened at the memory. "Oh _yes_! Absolutely stunning! What I wouldn't give for one of her yukata or even one of those beautiful dressing gowns…" she trailed off remembering the lush fabrics intricately embroidered by the elderly hotel manageress and the size of the price tags attached to the beautiful articles of clothing. One could easily guess how the woman's eyesight had begun to fail her, working for hours on end with needle and thread creating such beautiful and complicated patterns and designs.

Sakura sighed at the memory of the gorgeous fabrics and elaborate embroidery. "She was working on a lovely pale pink piece with silver embroidered birds in flight extending from the hem of the dressing robe, around the back and up over the shoulder when we were there… Did she finally finish it?"

The blonde woman sighed. "Oh yes, that was one of the first pieces she showed me, absolutely stunning. What I wouldn't give…" she interrupted herself to giggle. "The old woman was very persistent with Kakashi over that one. Kept trying to get him to purchase it for his lovely young wife…"

Sakura flushed and chose not to say anything.

After a couple moments of expectant silence Ino realized that Sakura wasn't going to bite and decided to change the direction of their conversation, though not the subject. "Speaking of your former sensei, have you seen him since you returned?" She asked idly toying with her cake once again.

"N-no!" Sakura exclaimed a little louder than necessary. "Er, that is no I haven't run across him yet…"

"Really?" The blue eyed woman asked with some surprise. She had figured that Kakashi would have sought Sakura out straight away once the pink haired woman returned, especially with the way he had been acting during the course of their mission. "Something happen?"

"I don't know. I guess you could say I'm a little upset with him right now."

"What?" Ino's eyes widened in even more surprise. She would never have guessed that there would be something amiss between the former teammates. "What on earth happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"C'mon Sakura, you know you'll probably feel better after talking about it…"

"I'm not really sure…"

"Whatever it is I'm sure it's not all that bad. You're probably over reacting to something and are too close to see how unimportant whatever it was really is in the grand scheme of things…"

Sakura sighed irritably. "He put _me_ up as the forfeit for one of his stupid challenges with Guy."

"Oh… um, come again?" Ino asked, trying to picture Kakashi actually betting Sakura on something.

The pink haired woman shook her head. "He put me up as the forfeit for one of those ridiculous contests Guy is always challenging him to… If he had lost I would have had to take an upcoming three month long undercover mission posing as Lee's wife _and_ attend the formal medic's banquet with him after we'd returned…"

"Well seeing as how you're here and Lee left a couple weeks ago, I'm guessing that Kakashi won?"

Sakura waved her hand dismissively. "Of course he won."

The blue eyed woman laughed. "If it was such a foregone conclusion, then what's the problem?"

"The problem? He bet me like some cheap bauble of his! It doesn't matter that he had no indentions of losing, he still offered me up as some sort of prize!" She sighed, feeling more hurt that she had realized and definitely more so than she wanted to admit to herself, never mind anyone else. "I thought he was better than that, or at the very least thought more of me than that…"

"So you're... What?" Ino waited expectantly for Sakura to fill in the blank, unable to figure what was going on inside the pink haired medic's head.

"I'm well I suppose, that is I guess... I'm disappointed in him…" Sakura paused for a minute as though _really_ thinking about it for the first time. With a frown she continued, her mind now working on other issues she would really rather not be thinking about. "Of all the people I would expect to try and take advantage of my friendship, I would _never_ have thought to include Kakashi in that particular category. I thought better of him than that…"

"Well you did mention that he had no intention of losing…" Ino tried sounding only a little unsure of her comments. "Seems like all he's guilty of might be an over abundance of confidence in his own abilities… which may or may not be justified depending on the nature of the challenge." She eyed Sakura who, though listening, seemed too preoccupied to really take in what she was saying. "What did Guy put up as his forfeit?"

"Lee has to stay away from me for three months, not including the three months he will be away on that undercover mission."

"Well that seems more than fair…"

"That's not the point! I thought I, er, our friendship, meant more to him than that! More than something he could just gamble away on one of Guy's stupid challenges!"

"Oh, I see…" Ino finally started to see the real problem; Sakura was much more hurt and upset than angry, but was obviously fighting herself over admitting it.

The pink haired woman sighed. "He's no better than the rest of them." Even as she said it she knew it wasn't true. She just didn't know what to do about the fact that his actions had hurt her much more than they should have, leading her to wonder about a few things she had been trying very hard to ignore.

* * *

After some serious thought and a couple additional failed attempts to corner the pink haired medic Kakashi decided that more roundabout tactics were necessary, though he couldn't quite figure what. Absently he roamed his apartment looking for inspiration, pausing when his eyes landed on Sakura's dream guardian. Gingerly he picked up the little plushie as he pondered the possibilities. Finally an idea hit and he was fairly certain that it would be the perfect way to gauge what Sakura was feeling without actually getting into the direct line of fire. 

Carefully he staked out her apartment; fairly certain she wouldn't be home but would be arriving shortly. Upon verifying that she wasn't home he hastily slipped into her bedroom and left her dream guardian, a note and a box of candies he knew she was fond of on her bed. Quickly and quietly he took himself out of her room and onto the roof of a nearby building – a vantage point from which he could watch her reaction without being seen.

He waited impatiently for her to return; according to her usual schedule she should be home any minute and the suspense was killing him. For some reason her strange behavior was bothering him much more than he thought it should. He shouldn't mind all that much that she had stopped socializing with him. The fact that she was avoiding him he could understand, but the fact that he actually seemed to miss her troubled him.

Several moments later his wait was finally brought to an end as a light flicked on and Sakura entered her bedroom, pulling extraneous articles of clothing from herself as she did so. Part of the way across her room she froze with her hands reaching for the ties of her wraparound skirt as her eyes lit upon her wayward dream guardian.

Immediately she glanced around the room, looking for an intruder before taking a quick look outside for the possible perpetrator. Upon finding no one she cautiously approached her bed and the stray plushie. Almost hesitantly she reached out for it, not quite expecting it to be real. Finding that it was she happily snatched the little plush doll from her bed to give it a quick hug before plopping down on her bed to read the brief note, the dream guardian still held tightly in her arms.

_Sakura,_

_Missed you and thought I should come home. Sorry for causing you trouble._

_Yours,_

_Kakashi_

_PS – heard you liked cinnamon spice chocolate truffles and brought some back for you… hope they're enough to win your forgiveness…_

Absently Sakura read the note a second time as she opened the box of truffles and popped one in her mouth. After rereading the note she was no closer to discerning just who had been holding her dream guardian hostage or more importantly _why_, but instead of dwelling on it she turned her attention to the plush itself.

Deep in thought she studied the little doll, running her fingers over some of the finer details as though checking to make sure it really was hers. He watched, feeling like some sort of strange voyeur as she examined the small representation of him, but by watching her he was able to better gauge her feelings. Going by how gently and carefully she was handling the doll he figured she wasn't really all that angry with him.

Now if she had shredded the small likeness of him or pounded it into the ground he would have had more to be concerned about. Feeling as though he had seen enough he silently took his leave. Taking one last look he noted that she had pushed one of 'his' sleeves up and was absently tracing the little ANBU tattoo he hadn't realized she had reproduced on the doll. He sighed. It would be a fairly difficult task ahead making his amends, but after seeing her react to the return of her dream guardian he was sure it could have been a lot worse. She could have been furious, but instead she was something else. With some thought he realized that his unthinking actions must have upset and hurt rather than angered her and she was now avoiding him because of it.

* * *

With some relief Sakura entered the hospital knowing that for once Kakashi hadn't been following and trying to intercept her. As she passed the front desk she noticed the same over-cheerfulness of the staff that only meant one thing. Doing her best not to hurry her footsteps she continued on to her office, knowing that he had already been there. 

When she finally came to a halt at her door she took a deep breath before entering, half expecting to find him there waiting for her. Finding that her office was empty she cautiously made her way to her desk to find a plain yet still lovely vase standing – empty – in the middle of her desk. Curiously she picked it up to discover that someone had put water into it, but had apparently neglected to add flowers. Setting it back down she looked for the usual accompanying note, feeling puzzled upon not finding one. For a troubling moment she wondered if someone had actually beaten her to both the flowers and usual scrap of paper before pushing the worrisome idea from her mind.

Even without the actual flowers or the likely accompanying message she knew that it was the thought that counted… and he had at least made an attempt to apologize to her, which she had to admit, grudgingly, was more than what she had done to try and rectify the situation.

With a slight frown she sat down to start her morning's paperwork. It _was_ a strange gesture to give her the vase without flowers as an apology – usually it worked the other way around. After spending what she felt was much too long wondering about it she took a firm grasp of herself and pushed it completely from her mind. She pulled several folders from her desk and decided that it was about time she started her rounds.

Her first patient was a tough case: he had been in the hospital since she had returned from her last mission and was likely to stay several more weeks. The old man was very slowly recuperating after major reconstructive surgery – the poor civilian had been caught by a stray explosive tag while taking a shortcut across one of the chunin training grounds. The room was dark when she entered and Mr. Fuwa was obviously resting. Since his folder noted that he had not been sleeping well lately she chose not to wake him.

Quietly she checked everything she needed to and took a couple steps toward the door before realizing that there were three wild flowers on his bedside table. Feeling puzzled, she could have _sworn_ that they hadn't been there when she had entered, Sakura picked them up to discover a small scrap of paper folded into the petals of a large variety of daisy. With an inward groan she freed the paper from the petals to find a sad face with a slash through its left eye.

Hurriedly she returned to her office to put the flowers in some water. Upon placing the flowers in the vase he had left her she happened to glance at the seat of her chair and found another flower, and this time she was positive it hadn't been there earlier. Unsure how she felt about this new development she placed the fourth flower, left without a scrap of paper, in the vase with the other three and once again exited her office to check on her next case.

Her second patient also happened to be asleep and like her first she found a couple flowers in the room on her way out – flowers that hadn't been there when she had entered. If not for the fact that she knew Kakashi was the one doing it she might have been seriously creeped out. Once again she returned to her office to add the flowers to the vase. Finding another one on her desk next to the vase she began to suspect how her day might go. It was only a matter of time before the staff realized what was happening and from there it was highly likely someone would discover Kakashi and as upset as she was with him she wasn't sure she wanted everyone to find out that he was doing it.

The third patient she visited, unlike the first two, was awake and she had to wonder if Kakashi would make his drop off again with a possible witness in the room. As she was excusing herself, having come to the conclusion that he had decided not to try it, she noticed a flower in the bin attached to the door usually used for patient files. With a sigh she took it and returned to her office figuring that it was going to be one long shift, though a small part of her was inwardly pleased and more than a little flattered at the time and effort he was putting into his reconciliation.

By the end of the day she was more than ready to leave the hospital and the entourage of curious hospital staff she seemed to have gathered during the course of the day. The flowers had appeared wherever she went and when Sakura had finished her shift she had quite a large bouquet of wildflowers on her desk and the entire hospital talking about it. Amazingly enough Kakashi had managed to pull the entire stunt off without anyone the wiser as to Sakura's secret admirer's true identity. Once again she had to admit that she was impressed despite herself at her former sensei's skill, though considering how high of a regard she had always held him and his shinobi skills, she really shouldn't have been.

Silently she still felt the need to berate Kakashi for his over the top apology. Before people had been extremely curious about her secret admirer but had for the most part absolutely no idea who he could be. Now the silver haired man's most recent stunt proved that her secret admirer was not only a shinobi, but a highly skilled one, narrowing the pool of candidates quite considerably. Regardless she had to admit that it was quite a remarkable feat, and she couldn't quite help being awed and a little pleased that he had actually pulled it off for her entire shift.

When she finally reached her apartment, ignoring the stares and whispers she collected from the villagers who had heard of her floral filled day, she was partially afraid to enter for fear of what she would find. As she lingered outside her door Sakura heard the distinctive tread of her landlord and hastily entered the apartment, closing her door as silently as possible so as to completely avoid the off-putting man.

Feeling a little paranoid she quickly scanned her living room and kitchen. Finding nothing she moved on down the hall to her bathroom and finally her bedroom. Almost immediately upon entering her room she noticed the tissue paper wrapped packet with three more flowers she couldn't name – if not for Ino she certainly would have failed the flower arranging class all kunoichi were forced to take – tucked into the paper lying on the edge of her bed. Hesitantly she approached, knowing he had to be around somewhere watching for her reaction, but not sure just where. When she couldn't take the suspense any longer she picked up the packet, expecting to find a note. Upon finding none she carefully removed the flowers from the parcel before pulling the paper away.

Sakura gasped as the tissue slid from her hands. She was holding the pale pink and silver embroidered dressing gown the hotel manageress had been working on and she had so openly admired. As she was examining the gorgeous article of clothing a small scrap of paper slipped from the folds of the robe. Curiously she stooped to pick it up, noting another sad face with a slash through it's left eye on one side and one simple word on the other: Sorry.

It was just plain too much. Tearing her eyes from the bit of paper and the beautiful robe she made her way to her balcony to try and locate the silver haired perpetrator. Carefully she examined her surroundings, looking for even just a glimpse of Kakashi, a bit of silver or maybe orange to give his presence away. Upon finding nothing she opened her mouth to call for him, unsure how else to get his attention.

Before she could put voice to her thoughts he materialized behind her and quickly pulled her back into her apartment, away from the prying eyes in the neighborhood and on the street below.

As soon as he stopped moving and released her Sakura backed away from him, abruptly feeling angry. "_You_." From out of nowhere she hit him hard, hard enough to very painfully, but cleanly, shatter his jaw as only a medic nin could. Feeling surprised at her reaction, having acted without thought, she pulled her hand away from the air directly in front of him quickly, already regretting her action but not wanting to let on to him quite yet.

"Hwat wus tha' frr?" he mumbled as best he could with some surprise, having figured that his apology had been more than enough to place him back in her good graces.

Unable to help herself, she narrowed her eyes and he fought the urge to duck even though he knew she would lash out at him again.

"That's for trying to buy your way out of trouble!" Despite her regret for shattering his jaw, Sakura smacked him again, though with significantly less force than before and carefully aiming for his shoulder.

He raised an eyebrow in askance, truly bewildered as to her reaction and hoping that she would hurry up and heal the painful damage she had done to him; he was starting to feel a bit queasy from the multiple bone breaks.

"And _that's_ for the fact that it _worked_, damn it!" She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, waiting for a reaction from her former sensei.

Startled, he laughed weakly despite the pain and nausea, suddenly feeling much better about the situation regardless of the fact that she had yet to make any movement to heal the throbbing injuries she had done to him.

She forced herself to glare at him, not particularly amused that his ploy to buy her forgiveness had actually worked, but knowing that she needed to make an impression on him to the effect that buying his way out of trouble was _not_ an option. "_Don't_ do it again."

Unable to speak due to the now gross swelling around his jaw Kakashi settled for nodding his agreement.

Sakura's gaze softened at his acquiescence and she sighed. "Okay, okay c'mere and sit." She gestured to the edge of her bed.

With only a fraction of a moment's hesitation he complied. As soon as he seated himself comfortably she stepped closer to fix the damage she had done. Sakura reached out to his shattered jaw but paused uncertainly. It was one nasty bit of damage, as it should be. Even in her rage she had calculated the impact for maximum and yet still clean, easily repaired injury. Now as she was about to start the healing process the presence of his mask brought her up short for a moment. It had never presented itself as a problem to anything other than her own curiosity before, but now…

He correctly read the reasons for her indecision and without much thought reached up to snag the edge of his mask. Before he could pull the ever present article of clothing down her hand covered his preventing the action. Surprised he shifted his gaze to meet her eyes for an answer, knowing that she had been dying to catch a glimpse of his face for _years_. He couldn't imagine what would cause her to prevent him from removing his mask willingly for a legitimate reason.

Sakura flushed a little at his surprised and inquisitive glance. "No… Leave it. It's fine." She smiled as she gently disentangled his fingers from his mask, removed his hand from his face, and lowered it back to his lap. As much as she wanted to see his face she didn't want to see it under such circumstances – it seemed like cheating…and there was also the fact that she wasn't sure she could handle cradling his cheek directly rather than through the thin fabric of his mask just then.

Silently she had to curse Ino for opening the door she had always kept tightly closed as a smaller part of herself couldn't help but remember just how attractive the man sitting in front of her was even with the greater portion of his face covered. The color on her cheeks intensified as she fought with herself to keep the inappropriate thoughts of her former sensei at bay and focus on the task at hand, which of course wasn't helping matters.

Understanding of a sort dawned on him; she didn't want to see his face for the first time swollen and distended by the injuries she had caused him. He smiled a little despite the pain and squeezed her hand before releasing it so she could heal him.

Gently she raised her hand to his cheek to heal the damage she had done, trying hard not to notice the close proximity the action brought her to the silver haired man. Instead she did her best to concentrate completely on what she was doing, which wasn't particularly difficult since she had done almost too good of a job in shattering his jaw and even though she had done it cleanly, the task still required her full attention.

Quickly he felt himself lulled into a comfortable and relaxed state as she worked on healing him and he was almost disappointed when she stopped.

"Thank you," she murmured as she finished repairing the damage to his jaw and withdrew both her hand and herself from him.

Kakashi reached up to experimentally shift his jaw around, finding it in full working order he smiled. "It was a big mistake so I figured I needed a big apology."

The medic blushed, feeling a bit awkward. "The flowers alone…"

He chuckled, amused at how flustered she had become over his latest gift and display. "Were not enough to get my point across… And I will admit it was a good test of some of my lesser used skills." He shrugged, hoping she would let it drop. As much as it pleased him that she clearly appreciated his apology it also embarrassed him a little that he had gone so far in trying to win his way back into her good graces.

She noticed an odd note to the tone of his voice and caught his eye. "Really Kakashi, it's too much. I don't…"

"Yes you do." He interrupted before she could finish. Quickly he rose from her bed and tousled her hair affectionately before moving back toward her balcony. "And you're welcome." Nimbly he hopped onto the railing of the balcony and then off to a nearby roof and was gone before she could protest or try to return the beautiful robe.


	20. Chapter Twenty: Exchanges

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I apologize for the tardiness of this chapter. I had some problems with it and didn't want to post it until I'd worked them out. ; Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I really appreciate your continuing support! Super hunormous thanks to my betas! I really appreciate all your hard work, especially since I know you've been incredibly busy! Thank you!

* * *

Chapter Twenty: Exchanges

"Ms. Haruno?" A hesitant voice disturbed Sakura's concentration as she was studying a particularly complicated scroll. Unfortunately, since she was sitting on one of the benches outside the hospital, she was considered to be fair game for interruptions regardless of what she may be doing.

"Hmm?" The pink haired kunoichi didn't glance up to look at the young medic in training for fear of losing her place in the dense text.

"I was wondering…" Mine continued, still uncertain that she wanted to ask about that particular something she had been thinking about for a while. A small part of her knew that she really shouldn't, as it wasn't any of her business, but her curiosity was killing her and she finally found herself just having to ask.

"Yes?" Sakura asked again, impatiently, feeling a little irritated at the intrusion.

"Well… I was wondering… About the night I saw you at the restaurant?"

"What about it?" Sakura's wariness increased as the blonde broached the subject she had hoped would be left alone.

"Um… about the man you were with?" Mine paused, still a little unsure of herself.

Trying to keep the caginess from her voice, Sakura turned to her. "Hmm, what about him?"

"My dad said some things about him, I was wondering if they were true…"

She smiled though she wasn't particularly feeling it. "Well I suppose that all depends on what your father said about him."

"Daddy said that Mr. Hatake is a jonin and became one when he was _my_ age... That just can't be right! Never mind the fact that he says Mr. Hatake is _younger_ than he is. Daddy's hair is still brown and Mr. Hatake's hair is all gray. He just _has_ to be older than my dad! I mean he was _your_ sensei, that has to make him old doesn't it?"

Sakura chuckled to herself, breathing a sigh of relief as she had feared that the rather inquisitive girl would be asking much more personal questions, and trying not to be offended at Mine's indirect comment on her own age. "Kakashi, er Mr. Hatake _is_ younger than your father… by several years if I'm remembering correctly."

Realizing that the older woman was in a position to know the truth she grasped at straws. "But he has gray hair!"

Sakura smiled. "I think it has always been gray, though if you asked him he may try to blame it on our team from when I was younger."

Mine frowned and contemplated someone having been born with gray hair. It seemed to be just plain unnatural – though, as she thought about it rumor had it that Sakura's hair was naturally _pink_. "Oh… but he still couldn't have become a jonin at my age! That's just plain impossible, no one can do _that_."

The pink haired medic laughed at the girl's disbelief, she had felt the same way upon meeting Kakashi for the first time. Her doubts of his abilities had lasted right up until that first real fight against Zabuza, and any lingering questions had been undeniably cleared when had rescued her the first time she had been kidnapped.

The younger medic shot her an inquiring look and Sakura smiled. "I would never have believed that if you had told me the same thing right after I met him too. But it _is_ true. He's very good at what he does." She sighed. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I was lucky to have him as my genin sensei."

"I don't know…" Mine hesitated, clearly unconvinced.

Sakura laughed. "Believe what you like, but it won't change the fact that he's one of the best shinobi in this village."

The younger girl's eyes widened considerably. "_Really_?"

The pink haired woman smiled. "Yes."

"Oh…" Mine paused in obvious thought. "So that's probably why Daddy said that Mr. Hatake didn't have to worry about things that other shinobi have to worry about..."

Sakura felt herself flush faintly. "Uh, in a manner of speaking I guess… I suppose it has more to do with the context of the conversation…" She shot the blonde girl a calculating glance and Mine squirmed under Sakura's gaze, wondering if the older medic might try and duck out of their conversation before it got really interesting. "I suspect the context was why Kakashi wouldn't, or rather couldn't be my secret admirer?"

Mine had the grace to blush. "Y-yes…"

"That's a little bit different."

"How is that?"

"If Kakashi wanted to give something to me he wouldn't have to do it anonymously, as a secret admirer. He could just give it to me without fear of any repercussions from..." she paused unsure of how she wanted to describe Naruto and Sasuke. While she was contemplating her two former teammates, the two occasionally annoying men appeared, as if summoned, a little further down the street. "Ah," she gestured at the two men meandering toward them. "Those two."

The younger girl followed Sakura's gesture and frowned. "Who are _they_?" She asked, and without thought or waiting for an answer she continued, "And why aren't you dating one of _them_? They're hot!"

Sakura sighed; she could see the hearts forming in the girl's eyes. She had hoped Mine may have at least heard of Naruto or Sasuke. "Those are my former teammates from when Kakashi, er Mr. Hatake was our genin sensei. They're… like brothers to me, and pretty close to being the strongest shinobi in this village. They can be a little, um, over protective sometimes."

"Oh…"

Naruto and Sasuke stopped to greet them.

"Sakura! We've been looking all over for you!"

"Hi guys," she nodded at the two men. "This is Mine, one of the medics in training at the hospital. Mine this," she gestured to the blonde, "is Naruto Uzumaki and this is Sasuke Uchiha," she finished, gesturing to the dark-haired man. "They were my teammates before I decided to spend more time working in the hospital."

Shyly Mine looked up and smiled at the two older shinobi. "Nice to meet you." Cautiously and without realizing it she shuffled a little closer to Sakura.

Naruto smiled, trying to put the girl more at ease. "Nice to meet you too Mine. So what were you two just talking about? It looked serious!"

Sakura opened her mouth to tell Naruto that they hadn't really been talking about anything important but unfortunately Mine beat her to the punch.

"We were just talking about Mr. Hatake!" The young girl giggled at the interest she received from the two attractive men at the mention of their former sensei.

"Oh?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly, unsure how Kakashi could have possibly come up in conversation.

"Yeah, I didn't think that he was good enough…"

Sakura quickly interrupted the girl. "Mine couldn't believe that he became a jonin when he was her age, that's all…"

Naruto laughed. "You'd better believe it! Kakashi is awesome!"

"Really? You're not just saying that? You know, because he was your teacher and all?" the blonde girl asked, feeling more comfortable with the two men.

"He's a highly skilled shinobi, probably one of the best in the village." Sasuke agreed a little more eloquently than Naruto.

"Oh, well I guess that's all right then," Mine mumbled mostly to herself to Sakura's inner horror.

"What's all right then?" Naruto asked with some curiosity.

Hastily Sakura tried to interrupt. "Really, it's nothing. Nothing important." She rose to try and urge her boys away from the far too talkative medic in training. "Weren't you two looking for me?"

The blonde girl giggled and beckoned the two men closer to her. Naruto gamely complied, and Sasuke with some hesitation. "If Mr. Hatake really is that good of a ninja then I guess it's alright that he's Ms. Haruno's secret admirer…" she whispered conspiratorially, though none too quietly.

Sakura cringed before laughing. After a startled moment Naruto joined her.

"That's ridiculous! Kakashi?" Naruto started laughing again.

Sasuke took the little girl's theory a little more seriously. "He could do it you know… but why would he bother?"

Mine shrugged. "I don't know, Ms. Haruno said he didn't have to worry about things other men do, like you two!" She pointed at the two men and giggled a little as Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances. "But I still think he's her secret admirer…"

Sakura, whose face had flushed a deep red, laughed a little nervously as she scolded the younger girl. "Mine! I've already told you…"

"I know, I know! You don't know who it is, but you don't think that it's him… and even though you don't think it's him Kotoko and I still think that it is!" She glanced down a little shook her head in annoyance, her eye catching sight of her watch as she did so. "Oh no! I'm late! They're really gonna kill me this time! Gotta go!" Hastily she turned, took a couple steps away and shouted over her shoulder, "Nice meeting you Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Uchiha!" Before she rushed back into the hospital.

To her immense relief both Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances at the girl's departure and chuckled. Obviously neither of them took Mine's allegations seriously.

* * *

Stealthily Kakashi crept ahead of the bag laden woman he was tracking. It was nearly dinner time and by pure chance he had happened to spot Sakura at a grocery store, obviously making her purchases for dinner. Even if she _hadn't_ seemed to have gathered all the ingredients for one of his favorite dishes he probably would have ended up following her just the same.

He watched as she paused to stop and speak to one of her neighbors and took the opportunity to casually slip back to ground level and saunter down the street as though he were on his way somewhere other than Sakura's apartment. As usual the silver haired man's timing was impeccable – he almost always arrived when he _intended_ to arrive, be it late or… later – and she was just finishing up her conversation.

Quickly he plucked the bags from her surprised hands before she could react and started walking toward the entrance to her apartment, making sure not to suppress the slight limp that had legitimately been bothering him. After all, he _did_ need an excuse other than wanting to mooch dinner to see her after all and he had over extended himself a little more than he should have during his daily training session.

"Kakashi? What?" She turned and intercepted him, stopping the silver haired man before he had taken more than a couple steps.

He smiled. "Thought you looked as though you could use some help."

"Of course you know I'm a kunoichi and completely capable of carrying my own grocery bags."

He nodded. "Yes, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Your turning up here right now wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the fact that it's nearly dinnertime and you've recently discovered that I can cook, would it?"

"No, no, just happened to be passing by." Cautiously he sidestepped her and once again started toward her apartment building.

She turned again with a little annoyance and paused as she watched him walk. "What have you done to your leg?"

"Oh? Er, nothing. It's fine."

"Judging from that limp it is _not_ fine…" She sighed, realizing that he had caught her and she would play right into what he had likely set up to ensure she made dinner for him. "Come on then, I'll make you dinner and attend to whatever it is that is throwing off your stride."

He grinned at her and continued on into her building, pleased to have won himself a free homemade meal.

Once they entered her apartment she quickly made her way to her kitchen and started dinner.

"If you want to make yourself useful you could set the table Kakashi," she called over her shoulder as she begun assembling ingredients.

With a lot of opening of cupboards, getting in Sakura's way and rummaging around he managed to set her table. Once his task was accomplished he found that he still had enough time to seat himself at her table and pull out his scarlet jacketed book. With a strong feeling of déjà vu he allowed his attention to wander from the smutty pages of the novel to watch Sakura maneuver about her kitchen, making an uncomplicated meal, yet still one of his favorites.

All too quickly for his liking – for some strange reason he was enjoying watching her do something as simple as cook – she finished. Carefully Sakura transported several serving dishes as well as a pitcher of water to the table and gestured for him to serve himself.

"So Kakashi, what were you _really_ doing outside my apartment this evening? That limp didn't look all that serious…"

"Nothing really, just passing through the neighborhood…" Hastily he took a bite of his fish. "Mmm, this is really good… What did you use to keep it so moist?"

She blinked as she flushed a little, thrown off by his compliment. "I only used the usual ingredients, nothing special really…"

He smiled then paused for a moment, wondering if he would be safe to tweak her nose a little before deciding that he might as well – at the very least it would divert her from asking what he was doing hanging around earlier. "I swear if I had only known you could cook like this before…"

She chuckled and finished his statement. "You would have found nearly endless ways of mooching, I'm sure."

He chose not to comment, taking another bite of the fish and offering up an "Mmm…" instead.

She watched, chagrined that he had chosen not to remove his mask. Since he had been willing to do so when she had healed his jaw she had been hoping that he might make another offer if she were to get him in the correct situation. The pink haired medic had hoped that if she let him swindle a meal out of her he would have at least had the decency to remove his mask and let her see his face.

As she ate and pondered the quandary of getting him to voluntarily remove the fabric, she was really regretting not allowing him to remove it when he had offered. The curiosity that had more or less died down since she was younger had returned full force at the prospect of him actually removing the dratted article of clothing on his own. Sakura continued to eat, watching bits and pieces of food disappearing from his plate, when an idea popped into her head and she smiled a little to herself – it was roundabout but might just work. She knew he would probably be putting some effort into mooching regularly now that he knew she could cook so she figured she might as well give him a reason to _and_ get something out of it at the same time. If she were lucky she might just get to see his face too!

"You _do_ know that you're not getting away with a free meal here don't you?" she asked as she innocently toyed with her fish, doing her best to conceal her smile.

Startled, he almost failed to raise his mask after taking a lightning quick bite of the broiled saury. Coughing a little he raised his eye to hers and lifted his eyebrow questioningly. "Oh?" He noticed the trace of a smile hovering around her lips and hastily returned his gaze to her eyes – to his surprise, she was going to have some fun with him.

She laughed. "Nothing's free Kakashi, but I think I can offer you a good deal." Her almost smile turned into an actual smirk.

"So what is it that you propose I pay for this delicious dinner?" he asked warily, though a small portion of him was a little excited at the prospect of what she may demand from him in recompense for the dinner.

"Well… I'll offer you eleven more homemade meals of your choosing – both content, time and place, unless it interferes with my work – in exchange for your company at the upcoming formal medic's dinner. I've no desire to attend alone this year, your bet with Guy reminded me of this, and… to be honest anyone else would probably get the crap kicked out of him by Naruto and Sasuke." She blushed a little and dropped her eyes back to the meal on the table, not quite believing she had mentioned that last bit aloud to him.

After a startled moment the silver haired man laughed, knowing she was probably right about Naruto and Sasuke, but still a little surprised that she would ask him. He pretended to ponder her proposition for a couple moments, watching as she toyed nervously with her food as she was unable to continue eating without his answer.

Finally he sighed theatrically. "Well… Will I see you in another one of those fantastic little black dresses?" He ducked the anticipated swat and felt a sense of justification in his action at the whistle of air above him.

"_Kakashi_!" she exclaimed as her face managed to turn even more red than before. It was a comment she would have expected to hear coming from Genma, not her former sensei and it surprised her more than just a little.

Before she could make another, more serious attempt to deck him, he laughed and raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, forget I mentioned it."

She glared at him suspiciously for a moment before returning to her meal. "Does this mean you've agreed?"

"Hmm. You said any meal, anytime, anywhere?"

"So long as I'm not working or about to work." She paused for a moment looking for the loophole she figured he was hinting at. "Um, and the meals have to be something I know how to make or can easily be done from any general cookbook… no bizarre, unusual, or unreasonable requests please."

"Hmm, sounds fair. I'll do it, homemade meals are hard to come by these days..." Kakashi's mind already started working on the interesting possibilities of the newly made arrangement.

She smiled happily. "Good, I wasn't looking forward to the gropes I'm sure I'd receive from some of the older doctors..." she trailed off in thought. "It's never the medics, you know. I can't quite figure that one out…"

He raised an eyebrow but chose to concentrate on the rest of his meal before it got cold instead of commenting. He knew it was because the medics were in a better position than the civilian doctors to know not to try and touch the fiery tempered kunoichi. After a moment's contemplation Sakura chose to follow his lead. Once they finished their meal the pink haired medic was pleasantly surprised to find him actively helping her clear and clean the dishes without any sort of prompting.

After they finished cleaning up, she pointed to the couch in her living room. "Sit and roll your pant leg up as far as it will go so I can take a look at your leg."

Without a second thought he complied, almost wondering why she hadn't just asked him to take the pants off completely as it would probably have made things easier for her, it wouldn't have been the first time she had asked him to completely disrobe so she could treat him. One look at her face and the faintest traces of color around her cheeks answered his unasked question. Thinking a little about it he had to admit to himself that he was a little surprised about her reaction.

Once his pant leg was pushed up and out of her way she set to work looking for the source of his limp. After a moment she cursed under her breath, though not quietly enough for Kakashi to miss.

"Something wrong?" he asked with a little concern. No one liked to hear their medic cursing upon discovering the root of a problem.

She did her best to prevent the blush she could feel starting to stain her cheeks. "Oh, er no. Nothing wrong… Um… I've found the problem." The pink haired kunoichi didn't want to think about why she was having such a hard time with her former sensei; she must have healed him hundreds of times, and at least several of those were hip injuries or one sort or another but it felt different this time around.

"That's good then, isn't it?"

"Well, it's your left hip. Something's not quite right with the muscles around the joint, probably a strain... I can fix it of course, but, er," the traitorous blush returned to her face, "I need you to remove your pants."

He wanted to laugh but found himself unable to. Instead he smiled and ruffled her hair, deciding to tease her a little. "Don't worry. In an uncharacteristic fit of practicality I decided to wear underwear today."

Sakura paled before getting a hold of herself. "_Kakashi_!"

He laughed at her reaction and rose to his feet, gesturing for her to turn her back. Even though he was making light of the situation he just couldn't bring himself to drop his pants while she was watching.

Sighing she complied, just plain not wanting to know how serious he had been about the underwear remark. Of course she had seen him in his skivvies on various occasions – granted, for those he was nearly always either unconscious or completely out of it and severely injured – but this time it somehow didn't quite feel the same. "Your vest and over shirt, too, please," she added, thinking that ridding Kakashi of the bulky clothes around his torso and waist would make it as easier for her to access his hip and heal him quickly.

After a moment he cleared his throat and ran his hand through his messy hair, removing his forehead protector as he did so. "Okay, Sakura."

The pink haired medic hesitated for only a moment and slowly turned. Against her wishes her eyes immediately dropped below his waist and she was both relieved and amused that he was indeed wearing underwear. She giggled a little, the fact that he was standing in front of her in only his mask, undershirt and boxers not quite registering as her amusement temporarily overrode any other thoughts in her mind.

"Really, Kakashi? Icha Icha?" she asked about the orange boxers printed with the trademarked Icha Icha slashed red circles.

He sighed. "They were a gift. It would be ungrateful not to at least wear them occasionally."

She laughed, thinking of the inappropriate pajamas he had given to her and silently resolved to make more of an effort to wear them. "Okay, okay, I'll say no more about them. Now, lie down on the couch..." She looked at him again. "Um, I think, on your stomach please," she asked realizing that there was no way she would be able to concentrate on the task at hand while feeling his gaze on her, watching as she healed him.

He hesitated for the briefest fraction of a second before doing as he had been asked.

Hastily Sakura knelt next to him and before her nerve left her, she carefully shifted the waistband of his boxers down a little to allow her better access to his hip. She realized and chose to ignore the fact that healing him would be much easier if she had not asked him to lie on his stomach, but she was positive that she would be unable to concentrate with his eyes on her as she worked on such an intimate area of his body. Shaking her head to clear the unwanted thoughts, she gently started the healing process. As Sakura worked she found rather quickly that it was a bit more serious than she had originally thought, definitely a strain made much worse by the fact that he ignored it presumably in the hopes that it would go away. As much as she didn't want for him to be injured, especially not seriously, she was almost thankful that his injury was trickier to correct than she had initially thought, since she was having a hard time dealing with her all too natural reaction at not only being so close to an attractive man, but handling him in what could be considered an almost intimate manner. The extra time it took to heal gave her a much needed moment to get her nerves into some semblance of order.

Finally getting her mutinous mind under control she was able to seriously concentrate on his injury. She frowned as she found something unexpected. "Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" he asked not wanting to trust his voice with her hands so lightly manipulating and healing his hip. _His_ hands tightly clenched the couch cushions beneath him as he was having a very hard time fighting nature so to speak in preventing his body from reacting to her careful touch.

"Just how long ago did you injure your hip?"

Pulling himself as together as he could he managed to murmur, "Dunno… thought it was today… Hmm... if not, might have been... a couple weeks ago?"

Her hands left his hip and he let out a sigh of both disappointment and relief before she smacked him upside the back of his head. "Idiot! It might not bother you all that much now, but if you had let that strain go, it could have gotten much, much worse!" She waited for his response, but after a moment or two of silence she figured his lack of response was all the admission of guilt she was likely to get.

With a sigh she returned to healing his hip, finding it to be a bit more difficult than she had originally estimated.

When she finally finished Sakura sighed and removed her hands from him and sat back on her heels, feeling more drained than she should. "You're all set, Kakashi."

Feeling a little stiff he took a couple deep breaths to try and settle himself; he had only just barely been able to keep himself under control. After a couple moments of composing himself he carefully shifted himself up and into a sitting position on the couch, wanting at the very least to retrieve and don his pants, but needing Sakura to move first. When she didn't move he looked more closely at her and frowned.

"You okay there Sakura? You look a little pale."

"Oh! Um, yeah… I'm fine, just a little tired. That took more out of me than I had thought it would."

He nodded understandingly. "Need a hand then?"

Upon moving her legs a little she frowned and then grimaced. "Ugh, give me a minute, both my legs fell asleep."

He chuckled, knowing from experience that she hated it when she lost the feeling in any of her extremities.

A couple moments, and quite a lot of pounding on her legs later, she sighed. "They're about as good as they're going to get without me changing position."

She reached out to Kakashi for her hand up. As his hand closed around hers and started to pull a noise from her bedroom startled them. At just the wrong moment Sakura flinched away from Kakashi, distracted by the sounds coming from the other room forcing Kakashi to throw himself off balance a little in order to grasp her hand. As his hand closed around Sakura's, her legs gave way, having been more asleep than she had realized. Instinctively she pulled on his hand to try and steady herself, pulling him completely off balance instead. Quickly he tried to lean forward to catch her. Unfortunately, not only was he off balance but he lacked the proper leverage and ended up getting pulled down onto the floor on top of Sakura.

"Sakura? You home?" a familiar voice called from her bedroom, followed by footsteps in the hall.

Surprised she looked up into his startled eye, seeing that his usual veneer of calm seemed to have cracked just enough to show a bit of panic. Before either of them could move Naruto and Sasuke emerged from the hallway, both men obviously looking for her.

Faster than she would have thought possible Sakura felt Kakashi slip off her and pull her to her feet with him. Though her head was spinning a little she was still acutely aware of how close she was standing next to the elite jonin, one of his arms still resting lightly around her waist where he had left it after helping her to her feet.

Doing her best to pull herself together she smiled to greet her guests. "Naruto, Sasuke! Good to see you two, what brought you here this evening?"

Naruto's reaction was slow in coming but eventually the shock wore off. "What the hell?!" Angry and confused the blond man took a step toward Sakura and Kakashi only to find himself being held back by the Uchiha. He turned to address the dark haired man, "Sasuke!? What are you–?"

Kakashi took Naruto's momentary distraction to don his pants, while Sakura found it easier to compose herself without the distracting presence of his hand on her hip – for the life of her she couldn't figure why he had chosen to leave it or how Naruto seemed not to have noticed it. She readied herself to deliver a quick and succinct summary of what had happened to the confused man. Much to her relief Sasuke obviously wasn't particularly concerned about how he and Naruto had found her and their former sensei or the fact that his hand had lingered somewhere it shouldn't have belonged for far longer than it should have.

"I lost my balance while Kakashi was helping me up after I healed his hip, Naruto." The medic sighed with exasperation, knowing that the blue eyed man should be the first person to laugh the apparent situation. Feeling as though she needed a little more of an explanation she added, "My legs fell asleep while I was healing him and I needed a hand up."

The blond man looked from Kakashi to Sakura to Kakashi and back to Sakura again with a frown on his face, clearly not sure what to do about the situation.

Sasuke shook his head. "Idiot, it's obvious nothing indecent was going on here; her balcony was unlocked and open, they're both more or less fully dressed... and Sakura knows by now not to bring anyone home with her when we're around." He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Besides this is _Kakashi, _not some guy off the street."

Slowly Naruto's frown melted away and he laughed, pointing at Kakashi. "I never thought you'd actually wear them!"

* * *

"Seriously." The faintly tipsy senbon wielder managed to only slightly slur the word as he wasn't quite as drunk as he appeared to be. "I don't understand how a beautiful flower like you could manage t'stay single for such a long time."

Sakura groaned to herself. She had thought only to stop in at the pub for a quick drink on the way home from the hospital; the hospital had lost a half dozen patients that day, one of which was under her care, and she wanted something that would help her sleep. After this encounter she would seriously consider keeping a stash of liquid refreshment in her apartment – though she didn't fancy the idea of drinking alone. Somehow while she had been sitting at the bar Genma had approached and managed to secure a seat right next to her and now she found herself unable to politely get rid of him. Silently she hoped that one of the regulars would appear and interrupt so she could use the distraction to discretely take her leave.

Audibly she sighed, letting some of her frustration show in her words. "It's not as hard as you may think. It doesn't matter how desirable a flower may be; if she has over protective thorns large and sharp enough, even the bravest or most foolish shinobi will think twice about approaching her."

He laughed at the nice way she had managed to describe her two former teammates and perhaps her former sensei though she probably hadn't realized that her description of thorns included him. "Ah, you're right about that, but I hear that you do still manage to have a little fun from time to time..."

"Hmm? Yes whenever they're off on a lengthy mission. But when they return..." She shrugged distractedly, her mind obviously elsewhere."...the relationship ends." Sakura toyed with the swizzle stick in her drink to vent some of the frustration she was feeling with the situation. "Really, it's hardly worth it anymore."

Sensing her distracted state Genma decided it was time to make his move. He pulled out his most charming smile, leaned in closer to her, and plucked an errant strand of her pink hair to rub between his fingers. "As I recall, they're both off on a mission in the Land of the Waves, aren't they?"

Visibly pulling her attention back to the present she jerked her head back from his fingers to reclaim her hair from his grasp. "You are correct. However, I just finished a shift at the hospital during which we lost six patients. I am not in the mood to deal with this – _you_ – tonight Genma. I just want to go home, _alone_." She stood and turned to look at him before she made her way from the pub. "Goodnight, Genma."

As the shaggy brown haired man was pondering yet another brush off by the kunoichi medic his ever observant eyes locked onto a new arrival into the pub as he turned to watch her go. His hand shot out lightning fast to secure one of her wrists and prevent her from walking away _or_ from seeing the new arrival.

Feeling surprised she turned to face the womanizing jonin with an inquisitive yet still impatient expression gracing her face. She had just told him she wasn't in the mood and only wanted to go home, _by herself_. The letch hitting on her wasn't unusual, but he _was_ generally bright enough to back off when she asked. Absently she chalked up his unusual stubbornness to his probable state of inebriation.

Genma's eyes tracked the newcomer, without appearing to do so, as he made his way to the bar for his drink – no doubt on his way to the usual booth in the dark corner of the pub. "Before you hurry away, my sweet blossom, answer me one question." His thumb lazily rubbed a circle on the inside of her wrist as he held it captive, hoping to throw her off balance.

She was about to pull her arm from him to continue on her way but her curiosity got the better of her. She wasn't sure why and was fairly certain she would live to regret it, but she paused, tilting her head to show she was listening.

He waited a moment for the new arrival to enter hearing range before posing a question he had been wondering about for quite some time now but had never had the guts or opportunity to ask. Once the newcomer was close enough to over hear him, the senbon wielding jonin posed his question. He was not as oblivious to the more subtle nuances of human behavior as most people thought and the recent interactions he had witnessed between former teacher and student had peaked his curiosity as to just what might be going on between the two shinobi. Of course he could flat out ask Kakashi, but not only was that plan of action likely to get him a false answer, but it was also likely to earn him a severe but circumspect beating later on in the form of a spar or training exercise. Instead he figured that his best bet might be asking the pink haired medic something completely inappropriate involving the silver haired man and observe _both_ parties reactions rather than the woman's actual reply. "If you had to choose to spend a night with either me or Kakashi, who would you choose?" he asked, positive she wouldn't actually answer.

The new arrival stiffened and shot the lecherous shinobi a look that promised a slow and painful death as soon as the opportunity presented itself and carefully made sure to suppress his presence as though his life depended upon it. The absolute last thing he wanted would be for Sakura to turn and find him there apparently listening in on her answer to Genma's beyond inappropriate question. Besides... as much as he really didn't want to admit it he was _very _interested in hearing her response.

She blinked, her annoyance with the jonin momentarily forgotten as she was completely floored by the question seemingly out of left field. Quickly getting over her shock and realizing he was serious she answered with hardly a hesitation. "Easy enough, Kakashi of course," feeling faintly amused she watched as his signature senbon dropped from his slackened jaw. She made as if to turn to leave and squeaked when the pressure on her wrist tightened instead of loosening to let her go.

"_Genma_! You're hurting me. Let go!" She pulled her arm, trying to free her wrist from his painful grasp.

His grip loosened, but he did not relinquish her wrist. "What? You don't even need to _think_ about it?" he asked with a note of what she could have sworn, if she didn't know of his reputation with the ladies, was pleading in his voice.

Feeling startled again her green eyes found his light brown ones. "Er, no, I don't think so. It'd definitely be Kakashi, hands down."

His eyes lit with slow realization and he pulled her closer to speak softly in her ear, unable to stop himself from baiting the kunoichi a little with an even less appropriate statement. "If _that's_ all you want, you'd be amazed at how accommodating _I_ can be… and at some of the things _I_ can do with my hands down… Kakashi isn't the only copy ninja, you know…" He let the sentence trail off suggestively to let her think for a moment before continuing. "_Still_ don't need to think about it?"

Her eyes widened at his deliberate misinterpretation of her words and using her free hand she slapped him. "That is _not_ what I meant and I'm sure you know it. You only asked who I'd rather spend a night with, not whose bed I'd like to end up in." Sakura pulled her arm again this time successfully freeing her wrist from him. She rubbed it ruefully to remove the feeling of his hand and turned to take her leave from the pub.

He opened his mouth, feeling as though he should try to sooth the angry kunoichi before she took her exit. Once the pink haired woman left the pub he knew his angry friend would descend upon him and that there would be hell to pay for his little bout of curiosity. Regrettably he was unable to find the words. The fact that – judging from the waves of pure malice he could sense emanating from Kakashi – he was fairly certain that his friend would more than likely try to kill him once Sakura slipped though the door may have played a key role in the fact that he couldn't seem to formulate any sort of apology.

Sakura's frustration over the long day and annoyance at men in general made her pause, turn around and lean in close to the lecherous ninja. She enjoyed the fact that he flinched and leaned back ever so slightly from her, on the defensive for once. The medic was tired of having to deal with him and decided to put a permanent stop to it. Or rather, as much of a permanent stop to it as she could. After all, Sakura had learned that he was, if nothing else, incorrigible.

"And before you even _think_ to ask whose bed I'd rather end up in," she hissed dropping her voice down further to barely above a whisper, "I wouldn't have to think about that one _either. _The answer would _still_ be Kakashi."

His eyes widened in shock at her surprising comment. He would never have expected her to volunteer the answer such a question, especially since he didn't quite have it in him to ask her himself.

She smiled sweetly at his shocked expression and shook her head in mock disgust before finally turning to make her exit.

Once the annoyed pink haired kunoichi had taken her leave the new arrival slowly made his way back from the shadows, feeling unsure of what to do with the bit of information his lecherous friend had just managed to wrest from his former student.

* * *

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed chapter twenty...

Now for some bad news… This is the last chapter I will be posting until December at the very earliest (January more likely.) I've mentioned a looming hiatus in the past and well, here it is. This is absolutely unavoidable, end of story. (As always for those interested check my LJ for details and updates.)

This being said, there is a slight (read very, very slim) possibility I might be able to post chapter twenty-one before I go. This is only because I've almost finished writing it, depending on how things go I might have enough time to finish it before really going on hiatus… I can make no promises though, so as far as I'm concerned this will be the last chapter until after I've moved. Until then, happy reading!


	21. Chapter TwentyOne: Gift

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Before anyone gets excited I'm not exactly back from hiatus yet. ;; I still don't have my own internet connection and to be quite honest am really tired and frustrated with the crummy wireless connection I am occasionally able to get. The internet company promised (back in November) that I would have my connection installed no later than January… Since things will pretty much shut down for New Years I'm thinking that it won't be until maybe mid-January. Yes, very painful, for me as well as anyone waiting for updates I assure you.

Many thanks to AvidReaderAlso for offering her services as beta for this chapter (and for listening to many a frustrated whine about my lack of internet…) since my regular betas have been too busy with real life to help me out with this chapter. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have some Christmas goodies for you… if only my internet would behave long enough so that I could send them! ;

On another note, just to clarify why I went on hiatus in the first place. I quit my job, changed my career, and moved to the other side of the world. Now if that wasn't stressful enough on its own I was also unsure if my apartment would have internet, and surprise, it didn't. So I have been ever so impatiently waiting to have it installed. I have not written myself into a corner or lost interest – this fic has a definite direction, pace and ending which is pretty much written in stone… a good portion of it has actually already been written.

All that aside, Merry Christmas or rather Happy Holidays to be more PC. Here's to hoping I won't have to spend hours trying to upload this chapter.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One: Gift

Sakura sat down at her desk, feeling relieved to finally have a moment to herself. It had been non-stop since she had started her shift and all she really wanted was a moment or two of peace and perhaps a nice, hot cup of tea. As she was thinking about the probability of someone cornering her into doing something if she were to leave the sanctuary of her office in order to get said cup of tea, a knock interrupted her thoughts. She sighed before answering. "Come in."

A timid woman she recognized as one of the nurses from the Shinobi Serious Care Ward opened the door and hesitantly entered.

"Yes?" the pink haired woman prompted, after waiting a couple moments for the woman to speak.

"Er, Ms. Haruno… Um, I seem to be having some difficulties with one of my patients... I was wondering if maybe…" she trailed off, embarrassed at what she was asking. "Well, you've a bit of a reputation with how you can handle some of the more difficult patients…"

"Alright, I'll come take a look." Sakura sighed, wondering which one of her boys was causing problems _this_ time. She rose from her chair and followed the nurse from her office.

The timid woman blushed a little as she led Sakura to her difficult patient's room. "Thank you."

Upon arriving, Sakura's curiosity was piqued when she noticed that the file waiting for her was orange and there was also a warning label on the door itself. Surprised, for she had thought that the problem was a patient refusing treatment, she snagged the folder and wondered which letch was giving the nurses problems. A quick glance at the papers, and seeing the surname: "Shiranui", explained everything: the old letch was back. Not bothering to check the first name, she turned the worried nurse standing next to her. "Don't worry about this one, I've dealt with him before and I'll take him off your hands if you like. I know he can be a bit… difficult sometimes."

"Oh! Thank you Ms. Haruno! I, um, none of the nurses have been able to handle him without, er, getting handled themselves. We weren't sure what to do… until someone remembered that you occasionally took the more difficult shinobi cases…"

The pink haired woman smiled, doing her best to hide the sigh that was trying to escape her. "Don't worry about it. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it probably won't be the last. Some patients are just plain incorrigible." Without waiting for a response, Sakura waved the nurse on with her duties and breezed into the room ready to scold the elder Mr. Shiranui for his treatment of the nurses.

"Really, Mr. Shiranui! The nurses are not here for your own private amus-" The pink haired medic stopped short as soon as she entered the room. "Genma?! What the hell are you doing here?" she asked with clear confusion in her voice. She had expected to find his father.

The severely beaten man did his best to grin – he looked distinctively unlike himself without his signature senbon bobbing around on his lips. "Got in a little over my head in a spar, that's all. It's nothing to worry your pretty little self about," he said. He tried to wink at her, but found he lacked the coordination.

The shock slowly faded and she moved over to his bedside, narrowing her eyes as she did so. "Did one of my boys do this?"

"Eh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, one of them must have been responsible, they usually are... C'mon, which one was it? Naruto or Sasuke?"

"Neither." He coughed a little under her intense gaze. "It was, as I said, a spar that got a little more serious than I had anticipated… My own fault really, should have known what I was getting into." He attempted to shrug with moderate success. "Live and learn I guess."

She eyed him suspiciously, not believing one word of it.

"Really Sakura, neither Naruto nor Sasuke did this." He managed to smile at her again. He wasn't lying exactly since it hadn't been Naruto or Sasuke. But, technically, it _had_ been one of her boys, and he freely admitted that he knew he had it coming after his little performance at the pub – but he wasn't about to let _her_ know that.

"My boys had nothing to do with you ending up here, pulverized almost beyond recognition?"

He shook his head in a negative, trying his hardest to lie convincingly. She frowned a bit as she watched him; he looked so unlike himself. Absently she plucked a coffee stir from a discarded drinking cup, sterilized it with chakra and stuck it in his surprised mouth. Tilting her head a little to the side, she nodded to herself. It wasn't perfect… but, at least he looked marginally more like himself.

Though she still didn't quite believe him, she let the matter drop and returned her attention to his file. With the state he was in, he would be in the hospital for a while unless she did her best to expedite his healing progress. Since she had enough patients of her own, Sakura figured the sooner she got him out of the hospital the better – and, a small part of her couldn't quite help but feel a little guilty since she was fairly certain that his hospitalization had something to do with her boys. All in all, it was just going to be another long day.

* * *

Slowly Kakashi flipped another page, though his eyes were not really taking in any of it. He wasn't sure what disturbed him more – the fact that he couldn't focus on his precious Icha Icha or the bit of information that was causing the lapse in his attention. Doing his best to shake it off, he turned another page... and sighed to himself as he sensed a pair of familiar presences approach. Really, they tended to have the _worst_ timing. He hesitated for a moment in indecision, trying to gauge if it would be better to transport himself elsewhere before they found him or stay and see what they wanted. While he was pondering, a familiar voice called out to him and he cursed, realizing that he had hesitated a little too long.

"Kakashi? That you up there?" his blonde former student called before appearing from out of the underbrush. "What the-?!" He exclaimed upon entering the defunct training ground. Sasuke quietly entered behind his blonde friend, taking in the havoc that had obviously been wreaked on the area.

Sasuke and Naruto found Kakashi reclining on one of the lower branches of the only remaining tree in the clearing. All other forms of vegetation had been broken down to splinters.

"What happened to all the trees?" Naruto exclaimed, once he was over the initial shock of finding such complete and localized destruction.

The silver haired jonin lowered his book and took a brief look around the clearing, as if just then noticing the devastation. "Hmm… couldn't really say. Looks as though they've been destroyed doesn't it?" As casually as he could, he returned his attention to his book, hoping the two younger men would get the point and state their purpose. He turned another page.

While Naruto continued to gape at the destruction, Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teammate – the Uchiha knew that Kakashi wouldn't let on one way or another if he had been the one to destroy the area, or, for that matter, why. Instead of trying to get an answer from the generally stoic man, he figured he might as well get on with the business that had sent the two men searching for their former sensei in the first place.

"Tsunade wants to see you Kakashi."

The jonin lowered his book again, concentrating more than he should to cover the stirrings of vague apprehension, and glanced down at the Uchiha. "Is that so? Did she happen to mention any particular reason?"

"How the hell should I know? The only reason we got roped into looking for you in the first place was because that stupid letch got himself tossed into the hospital again and I don't think she believed Naruto and I when we told her that we didn't have anything to do with it."

"Right… well, you've told me. I'll be on my way in a bit." He raised his book again and flipped a page, ignoring the two younger men once again.

"Kakashi! We've been looking for you for a couple hours now! She's gonna be pissed!" Naruto glared at the Copy Ninja. "And you know she's going to blame _us_ for that!"

He sighed, knowing he would have to face the busty blonde woman eventually. "Alright, alright. I'm on my way." Without looking up from his book, he dropped down from the tree and started back toward the village. Exchanging glances, Naruto and Sasuke followed quietly.

Composing himself carefully, Kakashi slowly entered the hokage's office. His two former students remained outside – having escorted him right up to the door of Tsunade's office, they wanted to make sure he actually _did_ go in to see her.

The blonde woman looked up from her desk upon his entrance and frowned. "Where the hell the have you been?" she asked him without any sort of preamble.

He remained silent, fairly certain that she wasn't really interested in his whereabouts.

She eyed him for a moment before sighing irritably. "Did you know that Genma's once again landed himself in the hospital for non-mission related injuries?"

A small portion of him wanted to panic at her seemingly innocent question, wondering if she might be trying to imply something. Covering himself just in case, he decided to go with a noncommittal, "Oh?"

Tsunade watched him carefully, looking for some sort of a guilty reaction. Upon finding none, she decided to poke around a little – just to be sure. She had been hearing some interesting things about the relationship between Kakashi and his former student and was consequently having trouble turning an incurious eye. "I've already spoken to Naruto and Sasuke about it… but I'm not completely convinced that they had anything to do with Genma's most recent incapacitation."

Warily, he concealed his reaction and continued to gaze inquisitively at the older woman, deliberately choosing not to respond.

After a moment's pause, she decided that he was not going to bite. So, not completely satisfied with his reaction, or rather, lack thereof, she prodded him a little more. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

He pretended to think for a moment and decided to take a bit of a risk, in the hope of closing the rather delicate subject. "Knowing Genma, he probably just hit on the wrong woman."

She looked at him sharply for a moment, having overheard Sakura complaining to her blonde friend about the local letch's most recent unwanted advances. Kakashi continued to look at her blankly, waiting for her to get on with whatever it was that had caused her to summon him.

"I see…" She eyed him again suspiciously and was not able to find anything she shouldn't in his expression. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to rummaging around her desk before tossing him a mission scroll. "Regardless of what happened, Genma was supposed to lead a mission tomorrow. It's now yours. An escort to just inside the border of Grass – little more than a glorified babysitting job and a bit below you, I'm afraid. But, we're a little stretched at the moment so I've no choice if I don't want to delay the mission any more than it already has been. You leave just after dawn tomorrow."

He broke the seal and opened the scroll with a sigh of resignation, inwardly cursing Genma for his poor timing.

* * *

Almost whistling to himself, he leisurely made his way through the dimly lit village, slowly zeroing in on his target. As he reached the apartment building, his eyes automatically slid to a particular set of patio doors which, he noted, were still dark. Kakashi smiled to himself as he nimbly landed on the balcony, careful not to let his bag rustle or allow his chakra to give himself away, and tsking to himself over the fact that she had left the doors open overnight.

Unsure what sort of a reception he could anticipate, he cautiously pushed aside the sheer curtains. He found her, as he had expected, to all appearances fast asleep in her bed. She looked just as peaceful as she had the other times he had observed her while she was sleeping and he almost felt bad for what he was about to do. Almost. Carefully, he stepped into the room and slipped over to her bed – he knew that she had been awake and aware of his presence since he had landed on her balcony, even though she hadn't reacted.

Upon reaching her bedside he paused, only just then noticing that she was wearing the cherry pajamas that he had given to her. A little surprised, he hesitated... and she took that moment to react.

Smoothly, she pulled a kunai from a sheath concealed in her pillow and sat up ready to face an intruder. Her eyes locked on his and the pink haired woman stopped.

"Kakashi?" she asked with some confusion.

He chuckled at her early morning bewilderment and ruffled her hair before seating himself comfortably next to her on the bed... all the while trying very hard to ignore the fact that she was wearing the inappropriate pajamas he had given her. From what he could see, they looked fantastically naughty on her.

She shook her head a little in disbelief. "Ugh, Kakashi! What time is it?"

"Four-thirty," he responded, not bothering to look at her alarm clock. He had been very careful in his timing – early enough to catch her asleep, but not so early as to thoroughly piss her off.

"Unless you're on death's doorstep, and you certainly don't seem like you are, come back in a couple hours." She flopped back down, shifting herself into a comfortable position and trying to relax herself to fall back sleep.

He chuckled, knowing he would receive such a response from the kunoichi. "Hmm, I seem to remember making a deal with a certain pink haired woman in regard to making me homemade meals on demand?"

"Mmph?" she mumbled, trying very hard to ignore the fact that he was still seated on the edge of her bed and leaning over her with, she was sure, one of his silly grins.

"Come now Sakura, I've a mission in a couple hours and I want pancakes before I go."

Chagrined, she slowly rose to a sitting position, feeling a little disconcerted at how close he was sitting next to her. "Huh? You want pan- what now?"

"Cakes. I want pancakes." Too cheerfully for four-thirty in the morning, he dug a small cookbook from the bag he brought, flipped it open to a page he had marked and handed it over to the groggy kunoichi.

She took the book from him. Automatically scanning the recipe, she found that it wasn't particularly difficult – aside from the fact that she didn't keep a couple of the ingredients he was likely to want as he'd put little happy faces next to the strawberries and cream in the "optional ingredients" list. "Alright, alright," she grumbled before yawning. "I don't know if I have every-"

He lifted the bag he had brought, and Sakura chuckled as she realized that it contained the ingredients he had figured she might not have on hand. She should have known that she would lose to him and that he would come prepared.

Kakashi rose from the edge of her bed so she could get up, feeling pleased that she hadn't put up more of a fight over making him breakfast. Then, as Sakura slowly shifted herself out from under the covers, he found that he couldn't keep himself from staring as she bent over to locate her slippers. The cherries strategically placed on her rump bounced a little with the sway of her hips as she dug under her bed for the stray slippers. Hastily, the elite jonin found that he had to turn from the all too enticing sight before his body reacted. The pajamas had been a joke – he had never expected to see her actually wearing them and he _certainly_ would never have thought that the sight of her in them could have such a clear and inappropriate effect on him.

In turning from Sakura, he noticed the dressing gown he had given her carefully laid out on a nearby chair. Quickly, he snagged it and turned back to her just as she was straightening with her slippers finally in place – if he didn't know better, he would have thought that she had deliberately taken longer than necessary with the footwear just to tease him.

She stifled a giggle. "I seem to remember you saying that you thought these pajamas were cute?" the medic asked with a pout. Then, she did a not-so-modest twirl for his benefit, thinking to get back at him a bit for his waking her up before dawn. She missed the slightly strangled noise he made in his throat at the sight of her bouncing around a little. Nevertheless, she still found herself blushing somewhat, for she _had_ seen how quickly he had turned from her while she was searching for her slippers. Seeing Kakashi react in this manner had caught her off guard, even though, after trying on the ridiculous night attire, she herself had been surprised at how the outwardly innocent clothing could so completely become anything but once it was actually on a woman's body.

Wordlessly, he held out the dressing gown for her and she laughed, gesturing for him to hold it open. With a sigh of relief, he shifted the dressing gown in his hands and carefully pulled it up over her shoulders once she had backed into the silky fabric, twitching the ends a little to close the front of the robe once she had stopped moving. Without thinking, his hands slid down to her waist and tied the belt to secure the gown, his mask-covered nose brushing the side of her neck as he did so.

Startled, she glanced at him questioningly. The sensations his actions had elicited caused her shiver a little and wonder at just what he was doing to her and how he could possibly be having such an effect on her.

Doing his best not to appear as panicked as he felt, he smiled and ruffled her hair a little before giving her a light push toward the door and away from him.

"How about those pancakes?"

* * *

Carefully, Sakura made her way into the pub, hoping she would be right. It had been a long day at the hospital and now all she really wanted was a couple of drinks before heading home. But, this particular night, the pink haired medic had other plans. She scanned the pub as she made her way to the bar, noting the section usually reserved for those the pub staff had dubbed 'the regulars' was occupied. She was in luck – the shinobi she had been looking for was indeed one of the group ensconced in the dark booth, his new favorite scarlet Icha Icha volume held loosely in one hand and a sake cup in the other. Sakura caught the near imperceptible glance he had shot in her direction and inwardly smiled, figuring it would be only a matter of time before she was either unceremoniously escorted by the man she was looking for or invited by a particular senbon wielding shinobi to the large booth all the way at the rear of the pub.

In the meantime, she ordered a drink, although nothing particularly strong, as she had no intentions of getting drunk. While she was waiting for the bartender to return with her order, she absently fended off the advances of a regular citizen (new to town and unaware of whom she was) and, surprisingly, one of the jonin who regularly pulled gate-duty and occasionally delivered the notes advising her of when her boys returned to the village. Upon receiving her drink, she turned away from the bar to lean up against it; twirling the neon green swizzle-stick that came with the fruity concoction and scanning the crowded pub, she waited for the not so subtle invite she knew would be coming from the back booth.

As if on cue, a familiar fully recovered senbon wielding jonin sidled up to her almost without her realizing it. A vague sense of disappointment filled her – her invitation had arrived, but she had hoped for a different delivery person. Then again, she probably should have chatted with the jonin from the gate (who, unlike the civilian, could at least hope to defend himself a little if things were to get physical.) Regardless, a little flirting _might_ have ensured the invitation had been delivered by the elite jonin for whom she had been looking. Instead she would have to settle for her second choice – her _distant_ second choice. She had to sigh to herself, for she had really hoped that Genma would give up pursuing her after she had told him point blank that she preferred Kakashi's company to his. Then again, she knew that he was nothing if not incorrigible and it would probably take a lot more than just a stated preference to convince him to leave her alone.

"So... what's one of the most sought after kunoichi of the village doing unescorted at the local pub this fine evening?" He breathed into her ear as he spoke, deftly keeping the sharp needle away from her face as he slipped his arm around her waist.

"Good evening Genma, nice to see you too." She eyed him suspiciously before reaching down to remove his hand and answer his question. "Since when does a kunoichi have to be escorted to a pub for a couple drinks on the way home?" She paused for a moment before continuing, "No scratch that, since when does a kunoichi have to escorted _anywhere_?"

Hastily, he back-pedaled. "Easy there, my precious cherry blossom. I was simply commenting on the fact that I cannot believe you're _still_ unattached." He winked and she had to make a concerted attempt not to roll her eyes at his actions. Stealthily, he slipped an arm around her waist again. "Perhaps it's time I rectified that situation." Gently, he steered her to the booth in the back, urging her onto the bench first so he could ensure she couldn't leave unless he allowed her to do so.

* * *

After a couple hours of listening to stories being swapped of missions gone both right and wrong, Sakura found herself starting to get a little sleepy, due more to the alcohol and warm atmosphere rather than the company. As she absently tried to remove Genma's hand from her waist for what felt like the millionth time that evening, she missed the brief frown that appeared on Kakashi's face at her, or rather, at Genma's, actions. Every time she removed his hand, he would somehow stealthily replace it before long. Though, she had to admit that her waist was a much better location than her upper thigh, which is where he had tried to put it as soon as they had sat down. In removing his hand from her thigh, she had made sure to squeeze it with a little chakra-enhanced strength to get the point across. He had then moved back to her waist, finding it was a less painful area from which to have his hand removed.

She sighed with agitation as she felt it slide back into place once again – she was paying more attention to his antics than to his current story about a mission gone strange. It was definitely time for her to take her leave. She had enjoyed listening to all the stories, but it was late and she was done dealing with the letch who had so kindly invited her to the booth. Making a big show of checking her watch, she excused herself.

"Damn, its past midnight and I pulled first shift tomorrow. Looks as though I should be going." She smiled at the group, hoping that the offer would be forthcoming. She turned a little to shoo the shinobi next to her over so she could exit the booth.

An offer was forthcoming – but, unfortunately, it had not come from the preferred jonin.

"I'll take you home." The senbon wielding shinobi pulled her close as he hastily rose from the booth, taking her with him. Before he could take a step toward the exit, however, he was blocked by the taller, silver haired man who had also spent the evening at their booth.

"It's time for me to be leaving as well. I'll walk Sakura home so you won't have to go out of your way."

She quirked a quick, thankful smile at the Copy Ninja and then glanced apologetically at Genma. "I'll go with Kakashi if you don't mind. I'm on his way home and I wouldn't want to impose too much on your kindness." Inwardly, she smirked and couldn't help adding in a low tone, only for him, "Besides we've had this conversation before – you _do_ remember the outcome don't you?" She removed his hand from her waist, taking care to squeeze his fingers with a little chakra-enhanced strength. It would seem that negative physical reinforcement might be the only way he would learn.

The shaggy, brown-haired man was only just barely able to keep his jaw from dropping and the senbon precariously hanging from his lips in place. Not even the pain in the fingers she had just crushed was able to distract him from what she had just said. Had she just hinted right in front of Kakashi that she seriously preferred the company of her former teacher?

Once the two former teammates had exited, glances were exchanged – several calculating and several clueless.

Genma sat scratching his head absently, "If I didn't know him any better, I'd say he just…" he trailed off, not quite ready to contemplate what he considered to be complete and utter foolishness. "Nah, couldn't be…" He signaled the girl who had been bringing them drinks for the better part of the night to order a few more. His hand was suddenly causing him quite a bit of pain and he couldn't quite figure out why.

* * *

Quietly, the two shinobi made their way down the street in a comfortable silence. The buildings gradually turned from commercial to residential as they entered the neighborhood in which Sakura's flat was located.

Upon reaching her building, the silver haired jonin stopped under one of the streetlights with a clear view of her balcony. Unbeknownst to her, whenever he walked her home he usually waited outside until the lights turned on in her apartment, signaling that she had made it into her flat unscathed. And, occasionally, he would find himself lingering longer for no apparent reason. Before he could lose himself in the dirty pages of his new favorite book, however, he was started from his reverie.

"Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" he looked up from his book in time to catch the faint flush on the pink haired kunoichi's face.

She glanced down, unwilling to face her former teacher with such a silly flush gracing her features. "Would you come up? I have something I'd like to give you." She twiddled with her fingers instead of looking back up to try to gauge his reaction.

His mind promptly fell into the gutter, and he was grateful for his ever present mask – although, this time, it hid his surprise rather than an embarrassing nosebleed. Quickly, he set about looking for a polite excuse to avoid a potential disastrous encounter with his decidedly attractive – he had finally given in and admitted that he indeed found her to be highly attractive – former student. Unfortunately, his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own as, with a big smile, he found himself agreeing.

As he silently followed her into her building and up to her apartment, he was frantically looking for an excuse to leave – he couldn't believe his mouth would betray him at such a vital time. It was getting harder and harder for him not to keep his reactions to himself. Seeing her at the pub with Genma, even though she obviously hadn't been enjoying his company, or perhaps _because_ she hadn't been enjoying the senbon wielding man's company, had been particularly difficult. Never mind the fact that his last encounter with Genma brought on by the letch's unwanted advances on his former student, had landed the shaggy brown haired man in the hospital with some fairly severe injuries.

Before he knew it she had let him into her apartment, disturbing his troubling thoughts.

Sakura led him into her small living room. "Please wait here for a moment, I'll be right back." She smiled happily at the silver haired shinobi. A faint tint of pink still graced her face as she slipped into her bedroom.

His mind tried desperately to claw itself out of the gutter as he waited for her return. His Icha Icha addicted mind could think of many reasons for her to excuse herself and head for her bedroom, but none of them were even remotely appropriate or likely. He couldn't, or rather he _could,_ imagine what she was going into her bedroom for, but he couldn't quite imagine _why _she would be doing so for his benefit. He knew she preferred his company to Genma's, but that was hardly a set up for the sort of encounter his mind kept fabricating for his panicked and disgusted amusement.

Trying to distract himself from the filthy thoughts, he wandered around her living room, taking the time to enjoy the photographs on her wall. Unsurprisingly, most of them were of friends, though there were also a couple of scattered family shots and, of course, various photographs of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and himself. Kakashi found himself smiling fondly upon finding her copy of a photo he himself had kept, along with a similar one from his own genin days. Taking a moment to actually look at the familiar photograph for the first time in years, he was surprised at how small the three genin had been in comparison to himself. Things had definitely changed, he reflected. At least, they had for two of the three – he was still all around larger than the kunoichi. She _had_ grown taller and filled out a bit, but, when all was said and done, Sakura could (and occasionally did, when Lee was looking for her) hide herself by just stepping and standing directly behind him.

Several moments later, as he was still pondering the photographs (grateful for the non-dirty thoughts they provoked), Sakura reappeared with a rectangular package wrapped in brightly colored paper in her hands. She smiled at his bewildered expression. "Happy Birthday Kakashi!" she exclaimed as she almost shyly extended the package to him.

Of all the possibilities he could have foreseen, this had not been one of them. He had been so busy between missions and trying to sort out what he was going to do about whatever it was that had been going on between himself and his former student that he had completely forgotten his own birthday.

"Sakura, you didn't have to…" Kakashi trailed off as a thought struck him. "Didn't you _already_ give me my birthday present not too long ago?" He dug around in his pouch and pulled out the slightly oversized Icha Icha volume.

She smiled. It was a genuine smile – not one of the ones she had spared Genma that evening when he had hit on her. "I seem to remember trading that book for keeping you in one place long enough so I could heal you."

The elite jonin opened his mouth to protest. He certainly hadn't expected her to get him something after receiving the near mythical Icha Icha volume.

Hurriedly, she continued before he could object again. "And, I do seem to remember promising that I would find something else to give you for your birthday." She waved the package at him again, gesturing with it for him to take it. "So here it is." She smiled at him again, enticing him to take the colorful present.

Almost hesitantly, he reached out to take the gift from the pink haired kunoichi. Glancing back at her her, he was just in time to catch a faint blush hovering around her cheeks. Again, he hesitated, wondering if he should really accept it.

She shook her head incredulously at his reluctance. "Go ahead and open it. I think you'll be surprised."

Carefully, as though it might turn into a snake at any moment, he removed the paper from the package to reveal a thick stack of typed pages crudely bound with three large brass brads. The words 'Icha Icha Inviolable' and 'Jiraiya' were printed in block letters across the first page. Disbelievingly, he looked at her questioningly to find that her blush had deepened a bit.

"You have there the original and only copy of a manuscript Jiraiya wrote, I believe, especially for you." She said, "Erm, I've actually not read it or even taken a look through at the illustrations. The dirty pervert said that he did something, probably sealed it, so that you would be the only one who can open it… regardless, I rather think I don't want to know anything about it anyway. So, er, if it's absolutely awful, or uh, completely inappropriate, I apologize… I'm not completely sure I like the way the letch smiled at me when he handed it over. Then again, knowing him, that could have been due to any number of things…"

His eye widened. "Sakura… you _didn't_…"

She turned from him, her cheeks burning now with anger instead of embarrassment. "Nobody actually _poses_ for Jiraiya, Kakashi. The dedicated pervert is one of the _sannin, _and he just so happens to utilize his skills to _peep_ – I don't think there's one woman in the village he hasn't peeped on at _least_ once…" She turned back to him and grimaced. "Luckily for me, Naruto usually catches anything the old pervert may do…" She shook her head, not really wanting to complete that thought. "Never mind. The disgusting old man owed me a favor and after some," she swallowed, her face paling a little, "um, inappropriate suggestions, he offered to write you a book for your birthday."

He continued to stare at her, unsure what he could possibly say.

She averted her gaze, not quite able to face him. "Um, and if my suspicions happen to be correct, just ignore the fact that a character might be based on me…" She paused in thought, tilting her head a little. "Though, now that I think of it, judging from what Naruto has babbled about the world of Icha Icha… Any character based on me probably shares only coloring and perhaps my name and nothing more…" She laughed softly as she added, "After all, I hardly share the same proportions as Tsunade."

"Sakura, I…"

She looked up on hearing the somewhat concerned tone in his voice and smiled. "Just take it and read it, you silly old man." She stood on her tip-toes to give him a peck on his mask covered cheek. "I'm sure it's fine. Jiraiya knows he's in for a beating if it turns out poorly and I know that's the last thing he wants after the last time…"

He frowned a little dispiritedly.

She looked at him with concern. "What?"

He sighed theatrically. "What ever happened to wanting to kiss the man, not the mask?" he asked, with a hint of teasing in his voice. Then, he pulled a small portion of the right side of his mask down to reveal a pale patch of his cheek, which he turned in her direction.

She laughed, wishing that he had pulled the whole thing down. "Kakashi!"

Again he sighed dramatically. "Not even on my birthday…"

Before he could finish his sentence, she had closed the distance between the two of them again and stretched up to kiss the revealed patch of cheek he was presenting to her. "There, are you happy now?"

He smiled. "Very."

"Good, because it's late and I wasn't lying about pulling the first shift – I've got to get some sleep. Nobody likes a crabby medic conducting their exam. Anyway, I'm sure there will be something tomorrow at the pub for you. So, I'll see you then."

He chuckled. "I guess it wasn't just a ruse to disentangle yourself from Genma?"

"Ugh, see what I do for you? If I had known he would be so…" she paused, looking for a word or phrase that wouldn't get the crap kicked out of the offending shinobi the next day. Feeling exasperated, she finally settled on a vague hand gesture to get her point across.

"If you didn't like it, you could have made him stop."

"Yes," she sighed. "And, made a bloody big scene in the pub too. That was the last thing I wanted to do. The idiot really only seems to understand negative physical reinforcement. Anyway, I went into the pub just to ensure I'd have a chance to give you your birthday present without people around… Er, I didn't really want it to get out that I'd given you original _porn_ for your birthday…" She blushed again.

"You're ashamed of your old teacher, then?" He couldn't keep the teasing lilt out of his voice or his smile from reaching his eye.

"N-no, that's not it…"

Kakashi laughed and bent down to kiss the top edge of her left cheek, quickly lowering and then raising his mask to do so. "Good night Sakura. I'll see you tomorrow."

Shocked for a moment, she finally managed to get her mouth to work. "Did you just…?" she trailed off not quite able to finish her question as the enormity of the event hit her.

He chuckled. "Can't kiss a lady through a mask now, can I?"

"That's not _fair_! You're too quick! I didn't get to _see_!"

"Life isn't fair Sakura. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo: Early Frost

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Um, for anyone who hasn't read my LJ, I'm officially back from hiatus. (To celebrate I posted a one-shot, check my profile for a link.) Internet has finally been installed and I can resume a (somewhat) regular posting schedule. I don't know what that schedule will be… but, I do know that it won't be as often as before. A lot of things have changed for me (having nothing to do with the fic) and I don't really have the time to update frequently anymore.

Many, many, many thanks to the support from everyone! Seriously, receiving such nice comments and well wishes definitely made dealing with not having internet a little better. :D Tons of thanks (as always) to my betas, without you guys, nothing would ever get posted!!

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two: Early Frost

Moving slowly and carefully Kakashi managed to stumble into his apartment. He was grateful that he wasn't likely to be called out for a mission in the morning since he was positive that he would have a horrific hangover. He had also made plans regarding a certain manuscript, and there was a good chance that, once he started reading, he would have little desire to leave his apartment. He had spent much of his birthday debating with himself over opening the unexpected gift from his former student. Finally, however, just before he was forced to attend the party at the pub, he had surrendered to his morbid curiosity and had promised himself he would read it the next day. After all, he justified, it would be ungrateful of him not to at least open it and take a quick look though.

Unfortunately, regardless of the conclusion Sakura had come to about her suspected appearance in the original work, he was fairly certain that the Icha Icha author had faithfully represented her in any, or rather, _all_, illustrations – she didn't _need_ Tsunade-like proportions to make it into a real Icha Icha novel, her natural form more than enough to earn her a place in the pages of the dirty books. Kakashi had no illusions as to how Jiraiya's mind worked – he was almost positive that the story gracing the smut-filled pages not only featured Sakura as the main and only female conquest (instead of the usual half dozen or so girls), but probably also had a different protagonist than the usual hero named Junko – namely, himself. The fact that the perverted author had sealed the manuscript to prevent the possibly curious kunoichi from checking it spoke volumes of both his intent and sense of self-preservation. Yet, even though he was likely to seriously regret it, Kakashi hadn't been able to decide not to read the dirty and almost certainly inappropriate present.

As he was fumbling for his bed a fragment of memory from earlier in the evening surfaced, causing him to frown. While opening presents he had come across a scroll from his lecherous friend which had advised him that his gift had already been given... and it was only a matter of time before he actually got to enjoy it. For the life of him, he couldn't quite figure out what it meant. But, since Genma had taken the time to write in pink and green inks – and had nodded in Sakura's direction upon receiving an inquisitive glance – Kakashi was relatively sure that it had something to do with his former student. With that troubling thought, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

An angry Kakashi made his way to his favorite author's apartment. He was fairly certain that the pervert was in the village; it was just a matter of time before he would be able to track him down.

As he had suspected, the manuscript had indeed been written about himself and Sakura – the old letch hadn't even bothered to make an effort to disguise them. Nevertheless, he had finished the novel... with less trepidation and disgust than he had anticipated. In fact, he had flipped back to the beginning to start again, possibly more interested in the story than he had been the first time through.

His arrival at Jiraiya's apartment broke his reverie. As calmly as he could, he knocked on the door, already knowing that the man he wanted to see was indeed at home.

A couple minutes later the door opened and he was greeted with a huge grin by the white haired shinobi. "Ah! Kakashi! Thought I might be seeing you today," said Jiraiya, as his grin managed to widen a little more. "Come to thank me for the manuscript, I'm sure." He winked as he eagerly ushered the younger man into his apartment. "You don't have to thank me, son – thank that pretty, little medic of yours." He sighed. "Ah, to be young again… I think I've done some of my best work because of her…" Jiraiya trailed off, lost in thought.

Only a moment later the older man came to a sudden conclusion. "Oh! Maybe you're here to request a sequel?" The sannin nudged his number one fan a little. "Or, perhaps something written from the woman's perspective as a return gift? I can do women pretty well, you know – probably better than you would think." Jiraiya laughed, then took a moment to actually look at the man standing in his living room, thundercloud expression and all.

"I've come for the pictures," said Kakashi

"Eh, what?"

"The illustrations from your manuscript. I've come to collect them."

"Ah-ha-ha-ha… I don't know what you could possibly mean."

Narrowing his eye, the Copy Ninja started to lose his temper. "The originals. I've come to collect the originals of the illustrations you drew for that manuscript; the ones bound in with the text are copies."

"Oh! _Really_? Imagine that…"

"Jiraiya…" Kakashi growled warningly. "I _want_ those pictures."

"Kakashi… there must be _some_ sort of deal we can strike on this. C'mon... name your price. A sequel? Some more illustrations, perhaps? Anything you like."

"Just the originals."

The older man sighed and started rummaging around his desk area, having known in advance it was an argument he would likely lose.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Have it your way." His hands located the file he wanted and he began to flip gingerly through for one last look, pausing when he came to his particularly artistic take on the scene they had witnessed at the hot spring. It was one of the earlier drawings for the story and, in his mind, one of the most provocative since he had stayed relatively close to the actual event. In other words, nothing Sakura wouldn't willingly show in a bathing suit or similarly skimpy clothing was showing in that picture, even though she was clearly not wearing clothing. Then he came to another, similar sketch – one which hadn't made it into the manuscript. Shaking his head sadly at the thought of having to part with it, he passed it to the silver haired man.

Kakashi carefully concealed his surprise as he looked at the drawing. It was a picture of Sakura applying lotion to her legs, just as she had been when he had stumbled upon her that summer night – though, her sleeping attire was different... not quite as skimpy as he recalled. As in all of his artwork, Jiraiya had done a good job of capturing the moment: Sakura sat at ease, with one of her legs raised almost straight up in the air to allow even coverage of the lotion. And she looked just as appealing as Kakashi remembered. Obviously, thought the Copy Ninja, the old letch had been spending more time peeping on Sakura than he had ever suspected.

"She does 'innocently seductive' quite well, don't you think?" the older man asked with a smirk. He waited a moment for a reaction from Kakashi. Upon receiving none, he sighed, took the drawing back from Kakashi, and continued flipping through the rest of the papers in the file, silently memorizing them to be reproduced at a later time if necessary.

Of course, the perverted author had not limited himself to drawing her in naturally alluring poses. Oh no – there were also illustrations of her fully nude and visible as well as others of both Sakura and Kakashi obviously enjoying each other's company.

Jiraiya sighed again, loudly, and reluctantly handed the rest of the file to the Copy Ninja. He had known that, one way or another, Kakashi would arrive on his doorstep once he had finished reading the original Icha Icha novel. And, though he had suspected that it was futile to do so, he _had_ hoped that the fact that the drawings were copies might have passed unnoticed by his number one fan – after all, he was rather proud of his work and wanted to hold on to it. Regardless, the author hadn't anticipated having to surrender them quite so quickly. He had been almost positive that some of those love scenes would have kept the Copy Ninja locked in his apartment longer than they apparently had. A small part of him had to wonder if he might be losing his touch.

"There you are. That's all of the artwork I drew for that manuscript, including the sketches and rough drawings I chose not to finish." The author watched as Kakashi took the file without opening it and turned to leave. Jiraiya had to admit to himself that he was impressed at the elite jonin's self restraint – a lesser man would have eagerly flipped through the file before taking his leave. As he thought about it, a small part of him wanted to test that resolve... just a little. "You know," he drawled casually, "I almost have to wonder what it is about those pictures that made you come all the way here to obtain the originals? Is it because I showed your real face? Or, perhaps, because I chose to accurately sketch your, er, _former student_ in the nude…"

Annoyed more than he wanted to let on, the elite jonin ignored the comment and exited the apartment.

The perverted man chuckled as he watched Kakashi disappear through the door. Then he made a mental note to stop by Hokage Tower the next time he was in that part of the village. Tsunade, he knew, would be very interested in how this had played out... plus she also now owed him some money.

* * *

Sakura tugged at the large, down-filled duvet she had wrapped tightly around her as she made her way into her kitchen. Quietly, she cursed the sudden cold-snap that had descended upon Konoha. Usually she wouldn't mind the cold too much, regardless of how early in the season it was; she would just crank up the heat and keep indoors as much as possible. Unfortunately for her that wasn't an option. Leaving off cursing the weather, she started in on the superintendent and owner of her apartment building. The penny-pinching, creepy man had decided that his tenants could only have heat _or_ air conditioning – never both at the same time – and, currently, the building's central air heating and cooling system was set for the latter. And, of course, the landlord was unavailable to turn on the heat, as he had left to visit his sister in the Land of Grass – for a month.

Generally, his decision would have been a sound one, as the cold weather usually didn't hit Konoha until right around Christmas and it wasn't even the end of October yet. But, for whatever reason, Mother Nature had decided to play a cruel trick on the residents of the building; not two days after the superintendent had left, the temperature had plummeted to around the freezing point and had stayed there. Now, Sakura and the other tenants (those few who were actually not away on missions at the time) were stuck with the task of trying to stay warm by any means necessary. Most had found significant others, family or friends with whom they could spend the long cold nights – leaving her pretty much on her own, freezing in the newest apartment building in the village. Her boys, all three of them, were off somewhere on a mission together. Vaguely, she wondered if they were somewhere warm.

Doing her best to control her shivers, she pulled out her kettle to make herself a nice pot of tea. She had gotten a chill in her bones on the way home from the hospital and now she was having a truly difficult time feeling warm again, regardless of the fact that she was wearing enough layers to make using the bathroom a major endeavor. As she waited for the water to boil she rummaged around in her cabinet looking for the container of loose tea which Kakashi had given to her as her secret admirer. It was then that Sakura realized that he hadn't given anything to her since the day of flowers. A small part of her was disappointed – he had probably lost interest after putting so much effort into his last gift, she thought, sighing a little.

After a few moments of distracted searching she happily found the tea and pulled it out – now one step closer to being warm. At least, she hoped she was.

* * *

As Kakashi absently adjusted the thick, wooly scarf around his neck, he wished he had thought to stop by his flat to grab a jacket before making his way to Sakura's apartment. It hadn't been very cold when he had left for the mission but the weather had turned nasty and bitter while he was gone and now his thick, standard jonin-issue sweater wasn't quite enough to keep him warm. Kakashi was cold and he hated being cold; it made him irritable, and when he was irritable his patience had a tendency to wear thin more quickly than usual which, in turn, could lead to actual displays of emotion from the usually outwardly stoic shinobi.

Sighing with annoyance, he finally turned around to face the presence that had been following him since he had re-entered the village. He knew that one of the shinobi manning the gates usually tailed him until he reached his own apartment before heading off to locate and alert his former student. Only on a couple of rare occasions had he been able to avoid what he considered to be a minor inconvenience.

"I know you're there," Kakashi said. "I'm not going to insult you by asking that you show yourself, but I would like to tell you I'm on my way to her apartment now. In other words, you're wasting your time."

He waited for a moment and sighed inwardly. The presence had not left him, which spoke volumes for either the man's loyalty to the pink haired medic or fear of her temper. "I'm sure you're aware that I met with the Hokage immediately upon my return," he continued. "She _suggested_ I pay my former student a visit before going back out with the reinforcements needed for my mission. I'm not four blocks from her building and my apartment is roughly ten in the other direction. I _am_ going to visit her…" The elite jonin waited again and was irritated to find the presence still there.

It wasn't exactly a lie; Tsunade had pointedly told him that, with his medical history, he should check in with a medic before returning to the field. Kakashi just happened to have other reasons for visiting Sakura, such as asking her to come to his place to make him a homemade dinner sometime later that evening. He was truly enjoying the deal she had made with him regarding homemade meals and fully intended on making the absolute most of it while he could. After all, in his experience, offers like hers did not come along very often. Allowing his annoyance to show in his voice he turned to look right at the shinobi watching him. "You can go back to the gate._ Now_."

After a moment's pause the unknown shinobi made his exit and a somewhat gratified Kakashi continued on his way. He had always known how Sakura had kept tabs on his comings and goings from the village, and it hadn't really bothered him too much. But the fact that he was now regularly visiting her at her apartment, without any sort of coercion, was something he didn't want to get around the village – especially today's visit, as he was going to make a quick stop at the supermarket on his way to pick up the ingredients for his favorite meal. However, the detour was necessary – he knew he had nothing in his cupboards and, he reasoned with a grin, if Sakura was to come to his place to cook dinner it was only fair of him to pick up what she would need... There was also the slight hope that if she found it easy to cook for him she might be more inclined to do so in the future, after their deal had expired.

Casually, he picked the lock on the front door and made his way into the kunoichi's building, noting as he did so that the hallway did not seem much warmer than the frigid temperatures outside. Assuming that the stingy landlord had opted not to heat the common portions of the building during the winter, the elite jonin shook his head, wondering why Sakura would choose to live in such a place. Granted, it was the newest apartment building in the village and had the most modern conveniences but, still, the miserable owner could (and often did) make things difficult for his tenants.

His thoughts came to an abrupt end when he realized he was standing outside her door. Shaking his head to clear her choice of living location from his mind, he knocked. Kakashi was fairly certain Sakura was home since Tsunade had mentioned that the pink haired kunoichi had already left the hospital for the day. Then, after a moment, the door opened to reveal quite a strange sight. His former student stood before him dressed in more clothing than he had ever seen anyone wear all at once.

* * *

Sakura heard the knock and sighed for she was just getting ready to pour herself some tea. Leaving everything in the kitchen, including her warm duvet, she made her way to her door. She wondered who could be dropping by since her boys were on an extended mission and pretty much everyone else was either away on missions or enjoying well-deserved vacations.

She cautiously opened the door, ready just in case her unexpected visitor was hostile. Her eyes widened as she opened the door all the way to admit her former sensei; she saw that he was carrying a shopping bag from a local market and easily guessed why he was there.

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed, surprise clearly evident in her voice. "What are you doing back in the village? I thought you weren't due back for another couple weeks?"

He smiled at her surprise. "Does your old teacher need a reason to stop by?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "You're not old Kakashi."

Hiding his surprise at her statement (she certainly called him an old man often enough), he casually made his way into her frigid apartment. "Maybe not," he replied, "but on days like this I sure _feel_ old."

"Days like this?" she queried, wondering at his seemingly strange mood.

"Cold – it can raise the ghosts of old, improperly healed injuries and has a tendency to settle in the joints and make them ache something awful." He pulled a face as if he were in terrible pain.

She laughed. "Kakashi, you do _not_ have arthritis!"

"No, no, didn't say I did… Just old, poorly healed injuries and an aversion to the cold."

She looked at him skeptically then sighed as she remembered the network of scars he had gracing a good portion of his body. "Hmm, you're probably right, especially considering the fact that you never _voluntarily_ seek medical treatment. I'll take a look the next time I'm working on you. If you let me, I might just be able to ease some of those aches and pains of yours."

Kakashi was grateful for both the presence of his mask and the fact that Sakura's gaze was focused inward as she thought about soothing some of his old injuries. If she had been focused on his features, she might have caught the semi-glazed expression he tended to sport when rereading a particularly good scene in one of his Icha Icha books. Quickly, before she might notice it, he shook his head dismissed the Icha Icha inspired mini-fantasy that had she had unwittingly started upon mentioning "working on" him.

Looking to divert her attention from what he thought could be a rather pleasant (if not thoroughly embarrassing) endeavor for him, he asked the obvious. "Did your heater break?

She frowned. "I wish – that would mean that it had been turned on. No, that tightfisted superintendent hasn't turned the heat on yet." Her face clearly expressed her disgust. "And, to top it al off, the sleaze ball left the village to visit his sister for a month – leaving those of us stuck here to quietly freeze while waiting for him to return." She sighed in frustration and glanced down as if slightly embarrassed that he had found her in such circumstances.

Upon hearing about her plight the silver haired man made a decision. But, before he could put it forth to Sakura, her eyes lit up as something occurred to her.

She looked up at him again. "Oh! If you're back then that means Naruto and Sasuke should be, too!" A genuine smile appeared on her face. She now had a solution to her freezing problem: she could crash with either one of them and worry about her lack of heat later.

Feeling bad for having to break the news to her, especially when she was so clearly happy at the prospect that Naruto and Sasuke had returned to the village, he replied absently, not thinking too much about his word selection. "Er, that's actually one of the reasons I'm here. I'm sorry Sakura – I came back alone."

Her head snapped up, alarm clearly taking over. "_What_?" she whispered, unable to continue as her mind leapt to an awful conclusion and anxiety closed her throat. She had always dreaded the day someone would come to let her know that something had happened to one of her boys, though she had never expected it to be so soon. Sakura looked at him, her eyes wide and full of dread and pleading for reassurance that her assumption was wrong. Almost hesitantly she took a step closer to him – then, before he could react, she had closed the distance between them and reached out to him. His arms automatically closed around the kunoichi in response to her silent plea and he noted that she was trembling ever so slightly. Without a thought, he pulled her closer.

After a moment, he realized what he was doing and, hastily, he raised his hands as it occurred to him what she must have thought. "Oh _no_! No, they're fine -- still in the field. I came back to report and pick up a few more shinobi…" He sheepishly smiled down at her pained expression. "Tsunade suggested I stop by before heading back out to let you know we were going to be gone for a while longer….Er, she didn't want you to start to worry and lose focus at the hospital…" He waited for the blow he was sure would be coming.

After a startled moment, during which her eyes searched his for the truth, she let out a sigh of relief. She lowered her head and breathed into his chest, "Thank god." Nevertheless, a light flush began to creep across her face as she thought of her hasty conclusion and, pulling herself away just a little, she smacked the silver haired jonin upside the back of his head.

Kakashi made no effort to dodge. He had learned from experience that to do so would dull the satisfaction the kunoichi was able to derive from the minor punitive measure and, generally, she would just hit him again – _harder_.

Then, much to his confusion, she made no move to disengage herself from him after administering her minor punishment. Wrinkling his brow slightly in uncertainty he looked down at the pink haired woman snuggled up against him. Though he hated to admit it, he had no objections to holding her for as long as she liked, but he wanted nothing to do with taking advantage of her. Resting his hands on her shoulders, and resisting the urge to allow them to slide down to the small of her back and once again pull her closer, he asked, "Um Sakura... Are you going to let go now?"

She pulled herself closer to him and buried her face in his sweater, enjoying the scent – she found she had missed it, after not seeing him for a while. "No," she answered.

Clearly surprised, he wasn't sure what to say and settled on a syllable of confusion. "Eh?"

"Mmm, you're _warm_."

He realized then that the slight shiver he had felt from her wasn't entirely due to the close call with her boys – she was freezing. "That's it," he ordered. "Come on, pack your things."

"Huh?" She shook her head and stepped back from him in surprise. "What?"

"Pack whatever you'll need for a month or so. You can't stay here."

"What? _W__hy_?"

"I'll not let you freeze." He smiled at her surprised expression. "Naruto and Sasuke would kill me if I did."

She laughed, giving in. "Okay, okay." She shuffled off to the kitchen to quickly dump the now cold water and to put her tea things away before heading to her room. As she grabbed clothes and toiletries she called out to the jonin waiting in her living room. "Where are we going?"

He waited for her to return with bag in hand before evasively answering, "Someplace warm."

She looked at him questioningly.

He sighed. "Just give me your bag and come on, Sakura." He used his no-nonsense voice, reserved only for his genin team, and felt faintly gratified to see her obey without a second thought.

Silently, they made their way across the village together to the slightly shabby-chic section of town where he resided.

She paused upon realizing where they were going.

He turned to look at her questioningly. "Sakura?"

"Kakashi… I couldn't…"

"Sakura, what kind of a… friend would I be if I let you freeze while my nicely heated apartment goes unused?"

She hesitated, still unsure.

"Come on" he coaxed. "I'll be leaving again tomorrow morning with the reinforcements for my mission. You're welcome to stay as long as you need. Besides, how many times have you let people crash at your place, myself included?"

She still hesitated, though she was unsure why she felt the need to think about it – if the offer had come from Naruto or Sasuke she would have immediately accepted. Yet the fact remained that, although she had long since lumped Kakashi in with her two other boys, she still treated him differently. There was something subtly dissimilar about her feelings for him and, somehow, accepting the use of his apartment while he was away didn't seem appropriate.

"C'mon Sakura, it's freezing. And I'm not going to accept 'no' for an answer."

Startled, she looked up to study his face and found only genuine concern... and a trace of something she couldn't quite identify.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was becoming impatient – it _was_ cold. He took a step toward the pink haired woman, obviously intending to make a grab for her. Her eyes widened as she realized his intent and she hastily nodded. "Okay, okay," she said. "I'm coming."

Suddenly feeling playful (although he was uncertain why), he grinned in response. "Too late" he said and made a grab for her

Too cold to make any effort to avoid her former sensei, Sakura allowed him to scoop her up and toss her over his shoulder. She sighed in mock irritation. "You just _had_ to, didn't you?"

He laughed as he took to the roofs to expedite the trip to his apartment. "If you're complaining I can always drop you…" He loosened his grip slightly as he spoke and chuckled upon feeling her hastily cling to him. "Well?" he prompted.

"Nuh-uh," she answered. "Warm." She grinned mischievously as an impish idea struck her. Stealthily, she managed to slip her freezing hands past his scarf and under the collar of his thick sweater.

The silver haired man yelped with surprise and almost dropped her upon feeling her ice cold hands against his neck. "Sakura!"

She giggled. "You're the one who decided to carry me. Now you have to deal with the consequences."

"Fine, fine, if this is how you're going to treat your old teacher, when he's just trying to help you…"

"It's not my fault," she huffed petulantly. "I'm cold and, for some completely unfair reason, you're toasty."

* * *

Carefully, he set her and the two bags down in his living room after turning the heat on and up. "You know where everything is," he said. "Let me just dig up a spare set of keys for you…" Then he paused. "You're not going to take advantage of the situation are you?" he asked as he continued to rummage around in one of his junk drawers. The thought of his precious Icha Icha collection going up in smoke – as retribution for something he might do in the future to annoy her – had just flickered across his mind's eye. Sakura had, in the past, when thoroughly annoyed with him for some reason or other, hinted that his beloved books would suffer the consequences if he didn't shape up. The threat had usually been issued after he had skipped out on some sort of medical treatment. Nevertheless, Kakashi was suddenly very happy that, before he had set out on his last mission, he had taken the time to conceal Jiraiya's manuscript and original sketches – he had been unable to force himself to burn it as common sense dictated – in a sealed box under a loose floorboard in his hall closet. The last thing he wanted was for Sakura, or anyone else for that matter, to accidentally come across them.

She laughed. "That would be a poor way to repay your kindness."

"Good," he answered, as he triumphantly pulled an old, spare set of keys from the drawer and turned to face her. He frowned when he saw that she was shivering a little, despite the slowly heating apartment. But then, when their hands touched for a moment as she smiled and accepted the keys, the older shinobi looked startled.

"Sakura, your hands are still _freezing_!" Without thinking, he took both her hands to cup them in his own, his frown deepening as he realized how cold she actually was.

She blushed as she made a half-hearted attempt to pull her hands from his. "Sorry," she murmured. "I did tell you I was cold, didn't I?"

"Guess so," he answered. Briskly, he rubbed her hands between his own a couple times and let them go. "Why don't you get your things and take a bath? There's a really nice public one, just a little ways down the street. It uses water from one of the only hot springs in the area and it's supposed to be especially good for chasing away the chills. You've keys, and I guess I should probably head off to brief the extra shinobi I'm to take back with me tomorrow… Think I was supposed to be there an hour or two ago…" Kakashi's musings trailed off as he caught her expression of sheer horror. "Something wrong, Sakura?"

"Er, um… I'm fine… I'll use your bath if you don't mind."

"Eh? Sure, sure. No problem." He looked at her questioningly.

She chuckled even as she blushed a bit. "I've been to that bath a couple times and, uh, its cotton-top hour there… The last thing I really want to hear about, well... _ever_, is Naruto's pervy sage."

"Come again?"

"Jiraiya. For some undetermined reason, the little old ladies seem to be quite attracted to the old pervert." Sakura shuddered. "I hate to even think it, but it's probably those horrible, little books he writes."

He laughed. "If you wait an hour or so, I'm sure the old ladies will clear out making room for a younger crowd. I believe Kurenai and Anko usually like to go later on in the afternoon."

To his surprise her blush, which had almost completely faded, returned full force. "Uh, no thanks. I'll just stick to your bath if you don't mind." Even through her embarrassment a small part of her wondered how he knew when Anko and Kurenai went to the public baths... though, not enough to actually ask him.

He chuckled at her obvious discomfort. "Let me guess," he teased. "The topic switches to subjects that are a little too close to home, then?" Kakashi figured that the subjects in question were Naruto and/or Sasuke although, after his more than enlightening eavesdropping session at the hot spring, he supposed he shouldn't exclude himself from the list of awkward conversation topics Sakura might encounter in the public bath.

She turned from him on the pretext of looking for some bathing things from her bag and mumbled, "You have _no_ idea how right you are," in a voice she thought was too quiet for him to hear.

The pink haired woman was, of course, wrong – he inwardly grinned at her comment. However, he decided not to press her. "Suit yourself. I'll be back later…" He paused as he remembered his shopping bag. With a smile he picked it up and, when she turned at the sound of it's rustling, raised it for her to see. "Oh and I'd like dinner please. I've picked up what you'll need…"

Sakura nodded and smiled in return. She had expected him to make the request. "I'm almost afraid to ask when you'll be back," she said. "Keep in mind that if you're really late your food will be cold. I'll not try to guess when you'll actually arrive."

He laughed. "Plan on eating at seven and, if I'm late, it's my own fault that my food is cold."

* * *

The next morning Sakura stared in disbelief at a bank of almost empty kitchen cupboards. Kakashi had been so thorough in picking up the ingredients for their dinner that she hadn't needed to go looking through his cupboards until now. She knew that he had just returned from an extended mission, but still, there was literally _no_ real food to be found in any of the obvious locations. Grumbling to herself, she realized it was a good thing that there was a little twenty-four hour convenience store only a block or two away from where he lived.

Gathering her things she quietly made her way through the living room toward the door. As she passed the couch where Kakashi still lay sleeping, she saw that his blanket had slipped down to reveal his bare, well-defined chest, and she paused to pull it back up around his shoulders. Of course (to her annoyance), even though he wasn't wearing a shirt he was still wearing his mask. A small part of her wondered if he had done it intentionally, just to tease her. The pink haired woman was also fairly certain that her light touch must have roused him – yet, he was choosing to lie there as if he was still sleeping. Sakura decided not to acknowledge it, figuring that he would fall back asleep as soon as she took her leave... or, at least, pretend to do so.

She quickly made her way to the little convenience store. Ignoring a clearly inquiring look from the shopkeeper, she picked up what she considered to be the essentials, as well as a couple extras, for she planned to make her gracious host a surprise if he was still in residence when she returned. Looking at her watch she decided that, more than likely, he would be since it was barely past seven. In Kakashi Time that was still the middle of the night – unless, of course, the jonin was actually on a mission.

Re-entering his apartment as quietly as possible she saw that he was indeed where she had left him... and that the blanket had slipped again. She wondered briefly if he had done it on purpose. Regardless, she moved softly back to his side and adjusted the blanket to cover what she really hoped was an at least _partially_-clad Copy Ninja, smiling for no particular reason as she did so.

* * *

Kakashi inwardly chuckled when he felt her rearrange the blanket he had intentionally shifted off himself for the second time; she seemed determined to be a considerate house guest. He figured this was probably due to the fact that she had found herself in his bedroom that morning, instead of on the couch where she had fallen asleep and been determined to spend the night. In the end, however, he had won the argument – he had waited for her to drift off and then, putting his stealth skills to dubious use, had moved her to his bed; then he had taken her place on the couch. He only regretted that he hadn't been able to see the expression on her face when she had discovered where she had been sleeping.

A couple minutes later, while he was debating between falling back asleep or actually getting up, the smell of what he assumed to be breakfast wafted his way. His decision was made – Kakashi rose, stretched and, not bothering to pull on a shirt, made his way blearily to his kitchen. Sure enough, Sakura was there at his stove, minding a pot of something that smelled pretty good.

"G'morning Sakura." He yawned and took a seat at his table. "So, what's for breakfast?" he asked hopefully.

She turned to greet him. "'Morning Kakashi. I'm making rice porridge… though, I do have to admit I cheated since I didn't have enough time to make it from scratch."

"Mmm, doesn't matter to me. It still smells good."

She laughed. "I imagine _anything_ would smell good to you, 'O he of the empty cupboards'."

"Eh heh-heh, sorry about that. I've been away…" He lifted his hand to the back of his neck sheepishly.

"No worries." She filled a freshly cleaned bowl and turned to hand it to him, along with a couple slices of buttered toast and a cup of steaming, hot tea. "Here, I promise not to turn and look."

Thinking about it before he touched his porridge, he made a decision. "Sakura, I…"

She waved a hand at him negligently without turning from what she was doing. "Just eat Kakashi. I'll not try to peek." Her hands were still busy with something he couldn't see.

Inwardly shrugging, he lowered his mask and proceeded to eat and drink while his food was still warm. As he ate he wondered what on earth she was doing, since breakfast was obviously ready. He watched her move about his kitchen as if it were her own, every now and then taking a sip of tea or a bite of porridge.

After a few moments, his curiosity got the better of him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Eh? Oh, um, just making lunch. I've a long shift at the hospital scheduled today and I probably won't have time to stop to eat a proper meal." She shrugged and continued to work.

He laughed. "You're making a _bento_? I seem to remember a certain young lady dead set against ever making something as domestic as a bento for her team."

Without looking she launched the wooden spoon she had been using to stir the rice porridge at his head. "As you should know, my boxed lunches are quite tasty."

Deftly, he caught the spoon. "Ah, yes… I'd forgotten. Times change, I see."

"Kakashi." She growled warningly.

He laughed at the annoyed kunoichi. "Suzume has a lot of explaining to do one of these days, I swear."

"It's not _entirely_ her fault." The pink haired woman grumbled. "If you men wouldn't take advantage of poor young kunoichi and their recently learned domestic skills we wouldn't have to under-exaggerate our abilities…"

"_Under-_exaggerate? Sakura, I was convinced that you'd completely _failed_."

"Well…. Sasuke made me nervous, so the extra dash of salt tended to become a couple extra pinches, or extra minutes on the fire…" She paused. "Um, I never intended to make my cooking _inedible..._ just not tasty enough for you to decide that I had to do the cooking _every_ time we set up camp."

He laughed at her embarrassed tone. "You're forgiven. And, thank you for breakfast. It was delicious." As he spoke he replaced his mask and rose from the table.

"You're welcome." She blushed a little as she turned and handed him a couple of boxes.

"Eh? What's this?" he asked, accepting the two bento.

"Your lunch. I figured you wouldn't take the time to make one before you left." She laughed a little nervously. "Besides, I probably owe you for all the times I made you eat something completely inedible."

* * *

"You're _late_," Genma stated flatly, as he and the rest of the group watched the elite, silver haired jonin saunter toward them. They had been waiting over an hour for him to appear.

Kakashi laughed a little nervously. "Well you see…" he replied, "I was on my way when, from out of nowhere, a lovely lady ambushed me and insisted she make me breakfast and a boxed lunch. I couldn't possibly say 'no' without offending her, now could I?"


	23. Chapter 23: Something to Come Home to

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many thanks to everyone reading and reviewing! Your reviews keep me going through some really difficult times. :) Tons of thanks to my fantastic betas, as always, you guys keep me on track and posting in a fairly regular fashion!

I'm still aiming for updating every three weeks, and I think barring unforeseen difficulties, I should be able to stick to my self imposed schedule… and post the occasional one-shot on an off week – so keep checking my LJ (link in my profile) for those if you're interested.

Currently I'm working on chapter twenty-nine and the ending is within sight – I think the whole fic will be somewhere around thirty-five chapters, maybe less. (For those curious, the rating of this fic will not change, ie no smut.)

Until next time, happy reading!

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three: Something to Come Home to

Exhausted, the silver haired shinobi and his senbon wielding compatriot made their way back to the younger man's apartment. It had been a long and difficult mission and now all they wanted was to sleep in a secured location. Genma intended to crash on Kakashi's couch as his own apartment was on the other side of the village and, after spending the entire previous day and most of the night traveling back to the village, he didn't really want to attempt the trek at three in the morning.

The two ninja stumbled and swayed slightly as they made their way into the apartment; still, in spite of their fatigue they made no sound. It was then that instincts ingrained by a lifetime of training paid off – they both sensed the presence of another person in the apartment. Carefully, the two tired men made their way to the bedroom, ready to put their exhaustion aside and deal with a possible enemy.

Instead of an intruder, however, they found something else entirely.

"_Shit_ Kakashi!" The brown haired shinobi exclaimed softly. "Is there something you haven't told me... or anyone else in the village for that matter?"

Sleeping peacefully in the Copy Ninja's bed as if she belonged there was one of the most sought after kunoichi in the village. Belatedly, Kakashi remembered giving Sakura the use of his apartment, although he couldn't quite figure why she was wearing one of his old jonin shirts. Not that he minded – he rather liked the way she looked in it even if he would never actually admit it; nevertheless, the implications alone were enough to set off his moral alarm. As if on cue, she shifted a little under their scrutiny, murmured something neither could quite catch and tossed the covers aside to reveal one of her long bare legs... and the fact that she wasn't wearing any sort of pajama bottoms.

Pulling the wide-eyed Genma along with him, Kakashi exited his bedroom to return to the living room before the question of 'is she wearing panties?' could be asked or, _worse,_ inadvertently answered. As they walked out, the silver haired man noticed that Sakura didn't seem to have any of her belongings, and a part of him had to wonder. Sure enough, once there, the brown haired man raised an eyebrow questioningly. Kakashi lifted his hand to rub the back of his head as if in embarrassment and chuckled a little nervously.

"Uh, must have slipped my mind that I gave her permission to stay here until the heat was turned on at her place…" he said. "She lives in that new building, the one owned by that skinflint, Hideki. He skipped town to visit his sister and forgot to switch the building from air conditioning to heat before he left. I couldn't let her stay there and freeze… so I let her stay here…"

"What I wouldn't give…" Genma trailed off with a little bit of awe evident in his voice, then shook his head as if in disbelief of his friend's luck. As usual with the lecherous man, however, he recovered quickly. "Quite a nice sight to come home to after a long mission, isn't it?" The brown eyed shinobi commented, as he smirked knowingly at his friend.

"Pull your mind from the gutter, Genma. She's a former student who needed help from her old teacher – nothing more."

"So, there's nothing between you two then? She's just here because you haven't been and she needed a place to stay?" His tired voice revealed more interest than the Copy Ninja wanted to hear.

"Eh?" Kakashi turned to face his friend sharply, not liking this line of questioning. "Why on earth would you think that there would be something more between us?" His mind panicked a little as he spoke, despite his outward appearance of puzzlement. He had thought that he had been doing fairly well in keeping his feelings for his former student outwardly platonic, even if he had, unfortunately, failed miserably in the dark depths of his Icha Icha addicted mind (receiving that original manuscript had truly been the last straw). Still, admitting his feelings to himself and actually acting upon them were two completely different things to the famously stoic man.

"Just checking, wouldn't want to intrude…" Genma smiled, then moved as if to go back to the bedroom. The taller shinobi stopped him.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" The tone of Kakashi's voice had taken on a barely noticeable edge – he was tired and did not want to deal with the womanizer's interest in his former student.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, you only have one couch and one fairly large bed… Since there's nothing between the two of you I thought I may as well go try my luck with the beautiful kunoichi currently sleeping in your bed – one that's conveniently meant for two." He widened his eyes in mock concern, "Oh, that is, of course, if you don't want to have a try first? It _is_ your apartment and bed after all."

The Copy Ninja's usually composed expression flickered for a moment. "Out!" he growled as he pointed to the door.

"Aw, come now, Kakashi, be reasonable. I'm exhausted!" Genma back-pedaled hastily. He had not expected the elite ninja would take him seriously or that he would react quite so defensively. He realized then that he had miscalculated his friend's compulsion to shelter his only female student.

"Get out _now_, tired or not. You won't be staying here tonight. She deserves better than to be woken up by someone like you in the middle of the night."

"Aw, _Kakashi_ – I didn't _mean_ it. I know you don't like letting other men try and take advantage of her. But, I mean, she _is_ a grown woman, a kunoichi for god's sake, _and_ she really can take care of herself. Easily." He sighed, finding no change to the silver haired man's expression or resolve. "Of course I'll sleep out here on the floor," he said, his voice turned wheedling as he hoped his friend would let him stay. "I won't go near your room and I'll leave as soon as–"

"No. Genma, I trust you with my life, but not my former student. Go home. I'll see you tomorrow at the debriefing." There was a note of finality in his voice that alerted the shaggy haired man that the conversation was over and that Kakashi would not change his mind.

Defeated, Genma made his way to the door and paused before leaving. "You know," he said, "you've been awfully protective of her lately. If you're not careful, someone might suspect your feelings for her may run deeper than they should as a former teacher and current friend." He turned to catch the silver haired man's eye. "If they do, and you don't do anything about it, one way or another you're going to have to let her go. Some man, be he ninja or civilian, _will_ come along and take her, whether you consent or not. She's far too attractive to stay single forever, Naruto and Sasuke approving or not."

Genma then hurriedly exited the apartment, not waiting for his friend's reaction as he was certain it wouldn't bode well for the messenger.

Once the lecherous man made his exit, Kakashi cautiously padded back to the bedroom. Momentarily banishing Genma's troubling comments in favor of something more pressing, he reentered the bedroom. Though he inwardly berated himself for what he was doing, the part of him that wanted to keep Sakura safe insisted that he double-check. He had noticed something was not quite right just before he had hurried his friend from the room.

He cautiously slipped next to the bed to get a better look at her. She was still sleeping peacefully with one of her legs almost entirely exposed. Kicking himself for violating her privacy, he inched a little closer and unhappily confirmed his earlier suspicion. There were indeed several deep, purplish marks discoloring her leg, some of which extended from under the hem of the shirt she had borrowed; now that he was closer, he could also discern the faintest traces of additional marks across her shoulder and neck.

Frowning, and feeling concerned, he shook his head, not quite sure of what he had found. As his friend had just pointed out, Sakura was an extremely capable kunoichi – such bruising had no place on her body. Plus, aside from being a competent shinobi, she was a medic; even if she should happen to receive such marks, removing them should have been child's play for someone of her skill level. Something was definitely wrong, but for the life of him he couldn't come up with a plausible scenario that would result in Sakura injured and unable to heal herself. Then, as he leaned a bit closer, trying to make sense of what he was seeing, he inadvertently alerted the deeply sleeping woman to his presence.

Sakura's eyes opened with a start and focused on him, her hand making an aborted motion toward a concealed kunai before relaxing. She was still mostly asleep, however, and Kakashi realized that she would probably not remember anything when she awoke in the morning. "'Kashi…" she murmured "...shoulda known… be back… late 's always…but still here n'theless…" She smiled sleepily at him. "Always there when… really need you…" Then, she shifted a bit in her sleep, pulling her leg back under the covers. "Hmm… knight 'n shi'ng… 'BU armor…" The rest of whatever she might have said was lost in a sigh as her breathing slowly deepened and she drifted back to sleep, apparently satisfied that the presence which had woken her was not a threat.

A completely dumbfounded Kakashi made his way back to his living room. Had Sakura implied that she had needed him and he hadn't been there or, rather, that he had, as usual, arrived late? Did she mean too late? The bruising he had noticed on her returned to the forefront of his mind. What, he wondered, had happened? Since there was no sign of her personal belongings, she had obviously already moved back to her own apartment. So, why was she now back in his, wearing one of his shirts? Had she come to his apartment looking for him, only to remember after arriving that he had not returned? If she had, that might explain why she was wearing one of his shirts, but not much else. Shaking his head in tired confusion he settled himself on the couch. She clearly cared for him more than he had realized, and thought more highly of him than he would ever have guessed. Feeling conflicted, he allowed himself to sink into sleep, completely drained in more ways than one.

* * *

Kakashi felt himself being pulled slowly from the glorious world of sleep, despite his determination to stay peacefully unaware of the world around him. Opening his natural eye a crack, he noted the golden sunlight pouring in from one of the windows to leave a splash of warmth on the couch before him. Cautiously, he started to stretch, only to pause and wince as his exertions from the mission, combined with a night on the couch, caught up with him. Then, as he inhaled to yawn, the scent of breakfast invaded his nostrils. 

Curious, he rose and made his way to his kitchen, knowing he would find his former student making breakfast. Pausing in the doorway of the kitchen, he was inordinately pleased (though he would never outwardly admit it) to see that Sakura was still wearing his shirt. It was much too large for her – the collar clung to one side of her neck leaving the excess to drape across her shoulder and the hem easily reached almost to her knees. She had also had to roll the sleeves quite a few times in order to allow her arms enough freedom of movement to cook. He was also happy to see that the bruising he had noticed before was gone. After a moment, he realized that he was staring and he made his way quietly to the table, fairly certain she knew he was there.

Sure enough, she turned to him as soon as he was seated. "Good morning, Kakashi," she said. "I wasn't expecting to see you for another couple days. Must be nice to be home early." Though she smiled as she spoke, he could tell that something was not quite right.

Setting aside the faint feeling that it wasn't a good morning for Sakura, he raised a hand in greeting. "'Morning Sakura. With the extra men, we were able to finish the assignment earlier than anticipated." He sniffed the air appreciatively. "What's for breakfast?" he asked, hoping to draw her attention away from his mission. "Smells good."

She giggled, figuring that a man who had made a career of being late didn't want to discuss something as embarrassing as being early although, silently, she was hoping he wouldn't ask why she had borrowed one of his shirts, or about her lack of personal effects. She didn't really want to talk about it with him – it was just too embarrassing – although she knew that, eventually, she would have to in order to get his help.

"Well… as I mentioned, I wasn't expecting you back so soon…" said Sakura. "But, you're in luck. Pancake batter can easily be watered down with a little milk, an extra egg and a bit of vanilla – although, why the hell a non-cooking bachelor has vanilla in his cupboard I'll never know – and, voila, we have crepes. The fruit salad I was going to make will make a nice filling with a little bit of sugar and spice to make some sauce..." She paused, tilting her head to the side as if in thought. "You know, I think I even remember seeing an ancient jar of chocolate sauce in your fridge…" Saying this, she moved away from the shallow frying pan she had been tending to rummage in his refrigerator. "Ah! Here it is…"

She turned to look at him for the first time since he had entered and raised an eyebrow. "I _really_ don't want to know what _you_ were doing with chocolate sauce in your fridge," she said, with a wink. "The vanilla was bad enough, but chocolate sauce? I think the world may come to an abrupt end."

Kakashi chuckled at the pink haired kunoichi, at which she sighed, rolled her eyes and moved back to the pan to flip the crepe. "Sounds good," he answered. "Better than anything I've ever made for myself."

She laughed. "Since you've been so nice to let me stay here I figure I can spoil you a little." She turned then, to bring him a plate laden with fruit filled crepes drizzled with the afore mentioned questionable chocolate sauce and a steaming cup of tea. "Enjoy. I promise I will be out of your hair as soon as I can find a new apartment." She looked at him anxiously. "I hope that's still okay with you, um, now that you're back? Your couch is actually pretty comfortable considering it was intended for sitting and not sleeping. Well, at least it was for however long it was that you let me sleep there…"

"Sakura, I said you could stay as long as you needed. Me being here or not doesn't change anything." He paused as his brain caught up with what she had actually said. "A _new_ apartment? What's happened with your old one?"

Suddenly she turned her gaze from his as if she found her bare feet to be the most fascinating things she had ever seen.

"Sakura?" he asked carefully. He frowned inwardly at her reaction – this wasn't like her at all. Unbidden, the memory of watching her sleep the night before invaded his mind, the worrisome bruises of particular concern.

She sighed audibly. Lifting her gaze from her feet, but still not meeting his eyes, she answered him. "I don't really want to talk about it right now, but I will be starting to look for a new apartment today. I, um… I just can't stay there anymore…" As her eyes finally found his, a note of pleading entered her voice. "Er, it _is_ okay for me to stay here for at least a couple more days... right?"

Feeling concerned and a little confused, the silver haired shinobi resolved to get to the bottom of what was bothering his former student. "Of course, Sakura. I've already told you that you can stay as long as you like." He smiled to show his sincerity. Visions of omelets, rice porridge, well stocked bentos and now crepes danced in his head at the thought of having her around for another couple days. Then, his lecherous friend's comment about coming home to her crept to the front of his mind, only to be viscously squashed as unwarranted and inappropriate.

She visibly relaxed and returned his smile before moving back to his stove to make another batch of crepes. Without turning, she called over her shoulder, "Are you going to want more?"

His mouth was full so he did his best to make an affirmative noise. "Mmmph-mmm."

She laughed, and continued with the crepes. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

He easily cleaned his plate and decided to tease her just a little. "You know, Sakura... if you're going to stay here while I'm home, I'll need something from you as payment – rent, if you like."

She visibly stiffened, stopping in middle of filling a crepe. "Oh?"

Keeping his mirth to himself as best he could he continued. "Yes. For each night you spend here I'd like you to…" he paused dramatically to draw out the tension he could sense she was feeling. "…make me breakfast." He grinned and ducked as she tossed a spatula at him without turning around. "Oh," he added, "and they won't count toward the homemade meals you've already promised me."

"Kakashi!"

"Aw, Sakura – you'd begrudge your poor old teacher a couple of home cooked meals? _Especially_ after he so generously offered you a place to stay?"

She was sorely tempted to turn around, but managed to stay facing his stove. "You're not old Kakashi," she said with a slight smile. "Just lazy."

* * *

"You're late!" 

"Oh, am I?"

"Of _course_ you are!"

"Ah-ha-ha, I see that I am. Sorry about that. This beautiful woman decided to make breakfast for me and I just couldn't seem to convince her not to waste her time." He smiled apologetically at the irate blonde woman sitting in front of him, while ignoring the open-jawed look he was currently receiving from a certain senbon wielding shinobi.

Tsunade eyed him suspiciously as she vaguely remembered that her pink haired medic had been squatting in his apartment while he was away. After a moment she dismissed the wild idea that had entered her mind as improbable although... a small part of her just had to wonder.

* * *

Kakashi returned from his debriefing to find that the industrious kunoichi had been on a cleaning spree and, as a consequence, his apartment was completely spotless – cleaner than he ever remembered it being. As he wandered in and marveled at the cleanliness he found her finishing his laundry. 

She looked up at his approach and smiled. "That was quick."

He shrugged. "There wasn't a whole lot to say. I'd already said most of it when I came back for reinforcements and since it went smoothly from there…" he trailed off realizing that she wasn't only folding his towels and bedding, but his uniforms from his mission as well. "Sakura, you really did _not_ have to do my laundry!" he exclaimed, a bit embarrassed at the thought of her handling his dirty clothing.

She giggled at his semi-horrified expression. "No problem, Kakashi. I needed more to round out the load and figured, while I was at it, I might as well do _everything_."

Unsure of what else to say, he settled on, "Thanks, Sakura," and ruffled her hair as he knew she hated.

"Kakashi!" She swatted his hand away from her head.

He chuckled and took the laundry basket from her. "I'll finish this. I'm sure you have other things to do today." He expected her to laugh and come back at him with some sort of rejoinder. When nothing was forthcoming, however, he took a moment to actually look at her and saw to his puzzlement that she was staring at her feet and twiddling with her fingers. He sighed. "Sakura, whatever it is, out with it."

She didn't look up, although she did stop fidgeting. However, she was clearly agonizing over something and Kakashi didn't like it, whatever it was that she had run from was much worse than he had originally guessed and he couldn't help but feel even more concerned than he had been before. He persisted. "I haven't asked you why you've decided to look for a new place, or why you can't stay at your apartment until you find a new one... or, why you don't seem to have any of your belongings here…"

"I-I really don't want to talk about it Kakashi." She interrupted him before he could verbalize any conclusions he may have drawn on his own. "I was going to go out for some lunch and then back to my place to pick up a few things before checking out the apartments I found in the paper this morning…" She trailed off, not wanting to continue with her train of thought. "Um… I was kind of hoping you would be able to join me…" she looked up at him with something akin to pleading in her eyes and a light flush creeping into her cheeks. As incredibly embarrassing as it was, a part of her was still a bit shaken, and she didn't want to go back by herself.

Frowning to himself, his concern only deepening, he nodded. "On one condition," he said.

Startled that he had agreed without asking for more details, she tilted her head, looking at him in askance as she silently requested that he elaborate.

"At some point, it doesn't have to be now, I would like for you to tell me what it was that sent you flying from your own apartment back to mine – whatever it was, couldn't have been good, and I think it might be something I will want to know about."

She cringed a little and nodded. "I rather suspect you'll see when we get there…" The pink haired woman shook her head as if clearing unpleasant thoughts and smiled faintly at her former sensei.

Kakashi wanted to ask her what she meant, but wisely decided against it. Clearly, whatever had happened was pretty bad, and she was having a hard time talking about it.

* * *

As they walked from the little bistro where they had stopped for lunch, he watched her from out of the corner of his eye and noted how she seemed to grow more and more anxious as they drew closer to her apartment building. If he had not already been suspicious of the source of her behavior, the several large floral arrangements on her doorstep with cards, seemingly all bearing apologies of some sort, might have tipped him off. 

She stepped over the flowers without a first, never mind a second, glance. Seeing this, he raised an eyebrow, but decided not to say anything. As they entered her living room area she turned to him. Kakashi thought she seemed to be slightly jittery.

"Would you please head to the kitchen and clear out the perishable food along with anything non-perishable you may like?" she asked, in an almost hesitant voice.

Inwardly frowning, he complied. It took him only a couple moments to clear the groceries from her refrigerator and cupboards; he guessed she probably hadn't been back in her apartment long before fleeing back to his for reasons unknown. Though she had suggested he would probably figure it out on his own upon entering her apartment, as far as he could see, everything appeared to be normal – except for the miniature garden currently blooming unheeded on her doorstep.

Once he had finished with the food, he decided to go looking for Sakura to see if she needed any help or she would explain herself. His frown, which had faded as he cleaned out her cupboards, returned as he started down her hall – it was a complete shambles. It didn't need a seasoned tracker such as himself to read the signs of an obviously violent struggle. Two towels lay on the floor – one partially in the bathroom, the other across the hall from the bathroom door. Most of the photographs normally lining her walls lay broken on the floor. When he looked in the bathroom as he passed, he was not surprised to see further damage. The shower curtain had been ripped from the rod, which had been partially pulled from the wall and toiletries lay scattered about, several of which were opened or leaking, causing strange pools of colored liquids on the bathroom floor. One of the taps on the sink had been broken and there was water everywhere; apparently, the sink had leaked all over the place until someone had turned it off at the source.

What Sakura had run from appeared to be far worse than he had originally suspected, and he was furious with whoever had dared to lay an unwanted finger on his former student. Someone had dared attack _his_ former student in her own home. Kakashi made his way to the pink haired woman's room – he wanted answers, most notably regarding _who_, and he wouldn't let her put him off this time.

She looked up as he entered; he caught a fleeting moment of fear in her eyes before she visibly relaxed and glanced back down at what she was doing.

"Sakura…" he started, trying to keep the sheer rage he was feeling toward her attacker from his voice, and managing to feel awkward at the same time. Although the signs had been easy enough to read he couldn't quite understand how it had happened.

She looked up at him and sighed, easily able to understand the conflicting emotions the older man must have been fighting, but still not really wanting to talk about what had happened. Nevertheless, knowing she would have to talk to someone about it, she steeled herself to explain the embarrassing incident to her former sensei. "I worked a double and a half, maybe more…" she began. "I'm not sure, it all kind of blurs together now. There was an industrial accident that caused a fire. All available medics were called in to help for as long as they were able – casualties were high and so was the number of injured. I stayed as long as I was able and did as much as I possibly could. When they finally had me escorted home… I had _nothing_ left, physically or mentally. I was completely exhausted. All I wanted was to go home, take a shower and sleep for a day and a half…" she trailed off in thought before shaking her head, obviously very disappointed in herself.

As he listened, Kakashi's hands clenched at his sides, though he was doing his best to hide his fury.

If she noticed his inner struggle, she chose to ignore it and continued. "I _know_ I closed and locked my door as I came in… the escort double checked from the outside. But then again to any half decent shinobi… or to a man with keys to all of the apartments, that wouldn't really matter would it?" She laughed mirthlessly. "Hideki must have entered while I was in the shower and waited until I opened the bathroom door… He _reeked_ of alcohol. He hadn't had any training, that was clear, but he _is_ larger than I am and… well, as I already said, I had absolutely nothing left, no energy, no chakra…" she trailed off again obviously lost in her own thoughts.

The silver haired jonin was torn. His rage had reached new levels and he was in the mood to destroy something but, on the other hand, he wanted to try and comfort the obviously upset kunoichi. Though, she was outwardly calm, he knew her well enough to know how upset she was with both herself and her attacker. It was probably killing the fiercely independent woman to admit to her former sensei that she had nearly failed to defend herself in her own apartment.

"Regardless," Sakura was saying, "he only had the upper hand for a few minutes before I managed to take him down. Thinking back on it... I-I don't think he was actually trying to hurt me or... Well, he didn't even look when I lost the second towel. He was fairly careful when trying to grab me for someone under the influence... I, I think he was trying to get me out of the apartment, kept pulling me to the door rather than..." She swallowed and shook her head, realizing not for the first time that the attack could have been much, much worse if the motive had been different.

"He didn't..." Kakashi started tentatively, wanting to be absolutely certain that her landlord hadn't actually hurt her at all, but not exactly wanting to put voice to his worst fear.

Hastily she shook her head. "No! Uh, no... nothing like that. I think it was more of a failed kidnapping attempt or something. We both know that I've certainly had plenty of _those_... Um, anyway, I grabbed some clothes and ran. Guess I ended up in your apartment…" She finished packing, sighed again, and glanced back up at him. Expecting to see clear disappointment on his face and to receive a lecture on safety, instead she found herself involuntarily shrinking back from his expression of absolute rage. "K-Kakashi?" Sakura asked hesitantly – she had not seen him quite that angry in a _long_ time.

Kakashi shook his head as he tried to organize his thoughts. Finally, he was able to snap himself out of his fury; seeing her uncertain expression he realized that he had been frightening the poor kunoichi and forced a smile. Then, without a word, he gathered the bags she had packed and carried them to her door.

When she didn't follow him he turned, caught the expression on her face, and decided he would need to say something to Sakura to ease her obvious concern. "I hope you packed something nice, there's a new little restaurant I've been wanting to try... thought we'd check it out tonight." He smiled as her expression changed from uncertainty to a hesitant excitement.

"Really?" She asked with some surprise, wondering if the frugal man was going to foot the bill.

"Yes. Now let's go home."

Feeling reassured, she rose and followed him.

* * *

"Ugh, _Kakashi_!" Sakura groaned as they re-entered his apartment. "I can't _believe_ you! And, that was by far the best apartment I've seen!" 

The Copy Ninja shrugged unapologetically as he sank into his couch, feeling somewhat gratified at preventing her from making a bad decision. "That one wasn't right for you," he answered. "Not close enough to the hospital." He also hadn't liked the way the landlord had looked at her, but certainly wasn't about to mention that to _her_. The elite jonin wasn't quite satisfied that Hideki's motives hadn't included more than a simple straightforward kidnapping, and he had to admit to himself that he was still feeling a bit over protective of his former student. He absently ran his hand through his hair to dispel some of the awkwardness, removing his forehead protector as he did so.

She glared at him for a minute, knowing he was right, but still irritated with him nonetheless. "I swear, at this rate, I'll _never_ find a new apartment!" As she chided him, she made her way into his kitchen, pulled two bottles of juice from his refrigerator and returned to his living room. With a sigh, she handed one of the bottles to him and took up what had become her usual spot in his armchair.

He chuckled at her frustration, earning himself a dark glare. A small part of him realized he could easily get used to having her around, cooking, cleaning, providing company... and it terrified the rest of him.

Sakura rolled her eyes at his amusement and pulled out the somewhat battered real estate section of the paper for another examination. After a couple moments she glanced back up at him, her frustration returning full force as she realized they had looked at _every single_ available apartment in the entire village.

"_Damn it_, Kakashi! Those were the last of them! I can't believe I haven't found anything yet!" She shook her head in annoyance. "At this rate, I'm never going to get out of your hair and into my own place." She suddenly narrowed her eyes suspiciously as something sneaky and rather unbelievable occurred to her. "Kakashi… you haven't gotten used to having me around, have you?"

He shrugged and opened his as-of-yet untouched bottle of juice, not wanting to let on to her that he _had. _In fact, he had discovered that he was rather reluctant to let her go – not only because he had grown fond of her cooking, but because he didn't really want to let her stay on her own again with what had happened at her last place. Irrationally he couldn't help but feel a little over protective of Sakura, her all too understandable near miss had disturbed him more than he really wanted to admit and now he was having a hard time with the idea of letting her find a new apartment where he couldn't as easily protect her – of course, if ever necessary.

"Why, you smug bas-" she trailed off completely speechless as he deftly pulled his mask down to take a swig of the juice, not bothering to replace it.

With more pleasure than he had thought possible, he watched her freeze for a moment before her jaw dropped as she unabashedly stared at his now completely bare face.

"Something wrong, Sakura?" he asked, unable to hide his amusement.

"Y-you…" she swallowed and tried again. "Your mask…"

"Yes? What about it?" he prompted, doing his best not to laugh at her completely dumbfounded expression.

"You're not wearing it…"

He nodded with a slight smile, noting that she flushed a little at the expression.

"Um, why?" she asked.

He shrugged. "You've been living here for a couple weeks now, and keeping the thing up all the time while I'm at home can be pretty troublesome. This is just easier…" He studied her flushing face. "Do you have an objection?"

"Oh! Um, no! Not at all!"

He smiled at her, watching her eyes widen to take in the (to her) alien expression. "Good."

* * *

"Oh, and before you even think of it, declining this mission is not an option." Tsunade growled with annoyance at the elite jonin before her. She knew the generally stoic man well enough to see the excuse coming a mile away – especially since he had been providing her with them for the past couple weeks. "You've had your time off and then some, _and_ declined the past four missions I've tried to assign to you. This one is mandatory." 

Kakashi sighed to himself, realizing that he should have known that he would eventually be sent back out in the field. "Fine, fine. I'll leave tomorrow morning."

"No, you'll leave in two hours. It's urgent enough that you need to start travelling today. Your mark needs to be taken out before giving a speech planned for three days from tomorrow." She eyed him with open suspicion. "And, by the time you come back, I expect your former student to have found a new apartment. A girl her age should really have her own place." Tsunade couldn't help smirking to herself, as she added, "Besides, Sakura staying with you is keeping a portion of the male population frustrated… not that they'd be able do much if she wasn't, but at least then they could hope."

"Eh? Why are you telling _me_ that? If you want Sakura out of my apartment, shouldn't you be telling _her_?" Silently, Kakashi cursed himself – somehow, he thought, he must have let something slip in front of the hokage, though he wasn't sure what it could have been. She was definitely on to his feelings for the pink haired medic in question and he was sure she would use that information to her advantage if given the chance.

"I will," answered Tsunade, "but I wanted to make it clear to you too." She narrowed her eyes and studied him. Jiraiya had been by to see her not too long ago and had seen fit to let her in on a couple of his observations – Kakashi's reaction had just about confirmed what she had heard. Tsunade didn't really care if he and Sakura ended up together, but she'd be damned if she would let the sneaky Copy Ninja take subtle advantage of the situation. If he wanted Sakura and she was amenable then, fine, he could have her – but only if he did things properly and with some sort of actual relationship beyond former teacher and current friend. As far as Tsunade was concerned, Kakashi would have to put words to his feelings, and not just mooch off Sakura's obvious soft spot for him. "Why was it again that she ended up in your apartment?" the Hokage then asked. "I can't quite seem to remember what happened with her old one."

"Water damage," he replied vaguely, knowing that the blonde woman didn't know the real reason. Or rather, that Sakura had made him promise not to do anything to her wayward former landlord _or_ tell anyone, especially Tsunade, Naruto and Sasuke about it. She wanted to deal with it in her own time and in her own way. Unfortunately for Hideki, the Copy Ninja had little intention of complying with the kunoichi's request but had been thus far foiled in his attempts to track down the rather elusive man. It would seem that the landlord had effectively skipped town, having sold the apartment building the day after the incident. Only his concern for his former student's well-being had kept Kakashi from heading right out after the sleazy bastard. Regardless, he was an elite, one who specialized in tracking as well as assassination – finding the unfortunate man wouldn't be too hard for him once he had the time to discretely take care of the situation.

"Ah, right, right…" Tsunade trailed off. She had known that he wouldn't give her the real story, but had still hoped that he might let an additional detail slip. "Anyway, you leave in two hours, no excuses, that's an order."

Kakashi nodded. Then, as he exited the Hokage's office via the window, he wondered if he should leave Sakura a note to let her know he was going to be away for a couple of days, or if he should just let Tsunade tell her…


	24. Chapter Twenty Four: Epidemic Revisited

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many apologies for the tardiness of this chapter. Hadn't intended for it to take as long as it did, but stuff happens I guess. As always tons of thanks to my betas – have picked up a new one, thank you – you guys keep me on track and posting in a fairly timely manner. :D

Loads of thanks to the reviewers! I can't believe you guys seriously enjoy this rather overgrown piece of fluff. ::blushes:: Thank you!!!

Fingers crossed the next chapter won't take nearly so long as this one! Until next time, happy reading!

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Four: Epidemic Revisited

"Kakashi?" Sakura called as she entered his apartment after her shift at the hospital. It had been brutal, but satisfying. The medic's workload had lifted enough for her to get back to her research and today she had been able to make a couple minor breakthroughs. Sakura was almost ready to take another look at the Copy Ninja and his Sharingan.

Upon receiving no response, she wandered through the apartment to double check that he wasn't just ignoring her with his nose in one of his dirty little books. Feeling strangely let down after not finding him, the medic meandered into his kitchen to start something for dinner.

In the kitchen she found several papers and a pen scattered across the surface of the table, as though someone had sat down to write something and had been interrupted before getting very far. Kakashi didn't usually leave paperwork lying around, and on the rare occasion he did, it was usually something he left in the living room. The only things she had ever seen him work on in the kitchen were quick last minute items, or the odd note for her before heading out somewhere. Out of habit, she gathered the papers into a neat pile; then, as she was about to move them somewhere out of the way, she noticed the top paper was addressed to her.

_Sakura,_

_Called out, back in_

The note ended abruptly and she assumed that either his team or someone Tsunade had sent had come to the apartment and dragged him away for a mission. She chuckled to herself at Kakashi's expense and checked the other papers to see what he had been working on. When she saw a brochure for a newly renovated apartment building, her interest piqued and she checked the others. One was some sort of flier for a preview showing of a model unit in the remodeled complex, while another had contact information and an appointment. Not quite believing it (the photos in the brochure were absolutely gorgeous) she hastily gathered the papers and set out to try and find the building. She had noted that the appointment was for the next day, just before her shift at the hospital.

* * *

With a sigh of relief, Kakashi reentered the village, happy that his mission was finally over. It had turned out to be a bit trickier than the client had originally led him to believe. Of course, this shouldn't have surprised him since the price of an assassination was high to begin with and could rise steeply depending upon difficulty. It had been ranked an A but really should have been at least an S. The target the target had been both paranoid and unpredictable, making it a hard job to plan, especially with a deadline looming.

Since it was just barely noon, he figured Tsunade would be available for him to give his report and he headed straight for the Hokage's tower. Once finished there, he would head back to his apartment to see if Sakura had any leftovers in the fridge. He didn't like to admit it, but he had missed her cooking while he was away from the village. Genma's comment about having something to come home to after a mission floated through his mind, only to be hastily pushed away; he had been trying very hard to keep those sorts of thoughts under control. He knew very well that a large part of him wanted more with Sakura, but the rest of him, the more rational part of him, couldn't allow it.

As he entered Tsunade's office, his last conversation with her came flooding back and he had to fight back the surge of disappointment he felt upon realizing that the pink haired woman had probably already moved, and that he would return to an apartment devoid of both Sakura and tasty leftovers. Annoyed, he kept his report brief and took his leave immediately after, missing the ill concealed smirk on the blonde woman's face. She could easily guess what had put the elite shinobi in a foul mood and it amused her quite a bit. Sakura had found a suitable apartment almost immediately after he had left the village, confirming her suspicions that he had been interfering with the pink haired medic on that particular front.

Almost sullenly, he entered his apartment to find it as he had expected: cold and deserted. Absently, he wandered into his kitchen wondering if she had left him any food and was pleasantly surprised to find several premade meals waiting in his fridge, as well as a note from the ever industrious kunoichi on his refrigerator door.

_Kakashi,_

_Welcome back! Hope the mission went well. Not sure when you'll be coming home, but I thought I should thank you for allowing me to stay with you while I looked for a new apartment. The one you found is perfect, thank you! I've left a couple basic meals in your fridge, all you have to do is reheat them in the oven. Since I don't know when you will return, I'll come by replace the meals in your refrigerator until you come back so everything in there should be safe for you to eat._

_Sakura_

_PS – this is pure generosity on my part – after you've eaten these meals you're back to deducting from the total I promised you in exchange for your company at the formal medic's dinner. I hope you haven't forgotten __your__ end of the deal. _

He chuckled as he slipped one of the well-packaged meals into his oven to warm it up, his day having improved marginally with the discovery of a couple days worth of food waiting for him in his refrigerator. As for her not so subtle reminder, he hadn't forgotten and had no intention of trying to duck out of it; on the contrary, he was looking forward to seeing her dressed up again.

While he was waiting for his meal to reheat, Kakashi set about doing all the little things he usually did upon returning from a mission. He took a quick shower, then wrapped a towel around his waist and started his laundry. It had been a while since he had last been able to lounge around his apartment in as little apparel as he pleased and he figured he might as well go back to his bachelor habits. The jonin hoped that the sooner his life went back to how it had been before Sakura temporarily moved in, the sooner he could forget how much he had actually enjoyed the experience.

Just as he was removing his lunch from the oven, there was a knock at the door. Belatedly, he remembered that Sakura usually checked in with him not too long after his return from missions. Since she had recently been staying with him and he had been voluntarily visiting her apartment before that, it had been quite a while since she had last stopped by unannounced.

Cursing his forgetfulness he hurried to his door, knowing that she would worry and let herself in if he didn't respond immediately. A small part of him, one he no longer bothered to try and squash, looked forward to seeing her reaction to him clad in only a towel.

* * *

Sakura knocked on her former sensei's door, feeling strange since for the last couple months she had just entered with her own key. She had to wonder while she waited what could be taking him so long. The pink haired medic had just heard from one of the jonin on gate duty that he had returned and had surprisingly decided to stop by the Hokage's office – by now he should be home and most likely expecting her.

As she was contemplating either knocking again or using her key, the door opened and she was only just able to keep her eyes from widening in surprise at the sight that awaited her. Kakashi stood before her wearing only a fairly short towel secured low around his hips, his hair still a bit damp from the shower he must have recently taken. Sakura suppressed a groan, as she realized once again that there definitely was something about a wet Copy Ninja that seemed to increase his attractiveness, especially if he happened also to be maskless and semi-nude. Hastily, she revised her assumption that he had been expecting her, and did her best to suppress the blush she knew was spreading across her face.

With a roguish smile, one that made her heart jump a little, he beckoned her inside his apartment, enjoying her discomfort.

"Come on in, Sakura. I guess it slipped my mind that I should expect a visit from you this afternoon." He chuckled as he led her back to his kitchen. "Make yourself at home, I'll just go put some clothes on."

Sakura nodded mutely and watched him go. After a moment, she was able to shake off her bemusement and regain her bearings, though a small part of her really wished he hadn't gone to make himself decent. Once she had gotten used to the idea, she had rather enjoyed the sight of him wearing next to nothing.

By the time he returned, wearing a pair of his usual loose pants and undershirt with attached mask, she had started a pot of tea and slipped his meal back in the oven to keep it warm. She frowned upon seeing his mask in place but said nothing, not wanting to be teased for preferring him without the fabric barrier… or, after catching a glimpse of him in just a towel, any fabric at all apparently.

"So, I'm assuming that you're here to check up on me then?" he asked as he once again pulled his lunch from the oven, being careful not to burn himself.

"Yup. Well that and to say thank you for… well, for everything. Tonight, I'm going to order a ton of food because Naruto and Sasuke are coming to help me arrange furniture. I moved in a couple days ago, but I wanted to spend a few days living there before finalizing a floor plan… but the apartment, it's perfect! How did you manage to find out about the building? They still haven't even started advertising it yet!"

"Ah… a friend of a friend mentioned it in passing and I thought it might be just what you were looking for." He shrugged, hoping she would buy the fib.

After Sakura's run in with her former landlord Kakashi had made a little trip to a small, but very old, bank to check on some things. The silver haired man, having found that a little protectiveness was indeed warranted, had decided that the best way of preventing a possible repeat of the situation was to ensure that her new landlord was someone he could trust – such as himself. His family had started out as farmers but had ended up as large-scale landowners. For the most part, he couldn't be bothered to deal with any of it, preferring to let someone else take care of his inheritance. But, his need to secure Sakura a suitable apartment had caused him to express an interest in just where exactly the clan holdings lay aside from the family estate and his own apartment building which, unfortunately, was full. Nevertheless, Kakashi had figured that he could have one of the other properties he owned renovated, preferably one that was conveniently close to his own residence, and hopefully Sakura would never know that he would be her new landlord.

"Ah, well that was a good bit of luck then!" She paused, examining him from the corner of her eye for a moment. "Funny that it's directly across the street from _your_ building, though… I can even wave to you from my balcony."

He shrugged, though a tiny part of him wanted to panic. "That's probably why it was mentioned to me in the first place – a warning that I would soon be getting neighbors I guess. No more walking around naked in front of open windows and the like." He suppressed a laugh as she choked on her tea. Kakashi had to wonder if she would spend an abnormal amount of time on her balcony trying to verify his offhand comment – the fact that she had just come across him in nothing but a towel definitely lent some credibility to his seemingly outrageous statement.

After coughing, sputtering and finally regaining her breath, Sakura nodded. She was apparently satisfied with his explanation, or too embarrassed to want to inquire any further. Kakashi heaved a silent sigh of relief and pulled his mask down to eat.

"So… you seem to be uninjured?" she asked as she toyed with her mug.

His mouth full, he nodded, then swallowed so he could speak. "Mission was pretty uneventful."

She looked up and smiled. "That's good. Tsunade said it wasn't one of the easier ones, so I was expecting injuries."

He frowned. "I may be old, but I'm not incompetent, Sakura."

She laughed at his disheartened expression. "You're not old Kakashi, and you're certainly anything _but_ incompetent."

He chuckled a little at her indignant tone, and poured himself a cup of tea, simply enjoying the moment and her company.

"Mmm, that reminds me," said Sakura. "I've hit another block with my research and have a deadline approaching… Do you think I could…" she trailed off not wanting to ask him for another favor as he had already done quite a lot for her in the recent past.

He eyed her speculatively, wondering if he could get some sort of extension on his meal deal with her out of it, before his conscience firmly reminded him that he had already promised Tsunade to help her. Besides, now that she lived across the street from him, it would be all too easy to drop in just in time for dinner, or even break in and steal leftovers if he felt inclined. "Sure, just tell me when and what you need me to do. Though, you might want to let Tsunade know if you're going to check any of those more advanced theories of yours – don't want you putting me out of commission just before she tries to send me out."

"Oh, no... of course not!" Sakura exclaimed, surprised that he would even think of it, or willingly allow her to do something to him that might pull him out of mission rotation for any length of time. "I don't intend on doing anything that might impair your skills for any period of time… but I'll still mention it to Tsunade, just in case."

Sakura finished her tea and rose to her feet, ready to take her leave and head back to the hospital. She eyed him for a moment suspiciously. "You _would_ tell me if you were injured, right?" The medic in her couldn't help but ask; she was feeling a bit guilty for not trying to verify his claim of no injuries.

He chuckled. "Yes, I'd tell you, and aside from a little soreness I've been carrying around in my shoulders, I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow. "Soreness? Let me take a look."

Before he could react, she had stepped closer to him and reached out to one of his bare shoulders to do a quick scan of his system to see what could be the cause of his soreness.

"Oh geeze, Kakashi!" she exclaimed. "You're all stiff again! No wonder you're sore." She slapped him lightly upside the back of his head. "You should have told me before it got this bad! I can easily relieve that tension."

He choked a little at her word choice, and was thankful that she didn't seem to notice. If things kept progressing as they were it wouldn't be long before it would be another type of tension entirely that would need easing and, tempting as the thought of her helping him with _that_ particular problem was, he still found the idea to be all too inappropriate – her words reminded him of something very similar that had happened between the two main characters in the original Icha Icha novel Jiraiya had written for him. That scene had started out innocently enough, but by the end of it, both main characters were having incredibly dirty thoughts of the other; though neither one could see it or would dare to act on it even if they could.

"Come on," Sakura ordered. "Get up and move to the living room – I can fix this easily enough. Why you continue to wander around like that when I'm more than happy to help you out, I'll never know."

Unsure if he could handle her hands on him without having some sort of natural reaction, especially with thoughts of Jiraiya's manuscript floating through his mind, he tried to persuade her not to bother. "Sakura, you really don't…"

"Nonsense, you're my… friend, I'll not sit back and let you suffer if there is something I can do about it." Sakura tilted her head to the side in thought. "Besides, you do stuff like this for me all the time."

"Um, not really." He almost twitched at the all-too-pleasant thought of laying his hands so intimately upon his former student. "And, really it's not that bad."

"You did once..." Her mind flitted back to just before her birthday, and the little impromptu massage he had given her after she had healed him. A part of her would love to have him give her another... Hastily she pulled her mind back from the memory and continued. "Anyway, you've taken very good care of me over the years and times like these are my only chances to try and repay the favors you've done for me… Stop being so stubborn!" She eyed him for a moment and, sensing that he wasn't going to give in, she decided to change her tactics. Sakura smiled appealingly. "Come on," she tried in wheedling tone. "You know I'm going to win this one, so just make it easier on both of us and give in already!"

One look at her expression decided the silver haired man – she knew him too well, he could never refuse her anything when she looked at him like that. "Okay, okay." Kakashi drained the last bit of tea from his mug and followed her into his living room.

Sakura moved his coffee table out of the way and gestured for him to lie down on the floor. "Ah, before you get comfortable, take it off," she gestured to his shirt, "it's easier when I don't have to send my chakra through fabric."

He sighed, feeling as though he was digging his own grave, but still complied. As soon as he stretched himself out on the floor, she knelt at his side. Her hands were as skillful as he remembered and it wasn't long before she had him almost completely relaxed.

Then, just as he was really starting to enjoy the movements of her hands across his back, neck, shoulders and arms, he felt her pause. "Mmph?" he asked, not quite trusting himself to speak but wondering why she had stopped.

"Hang on a moment." Sakura laughed at the all too obvious disappointment she could hear in his voice, despite the fact that he hadn't used words. "I need better leverage to attack those knots in your shoulders." Carefully she shifted herself to straddle his lower back. She felt him immediately tense beneath her and she sighed, watching her hard work going down the drain. "Stop that," she scolded. "You're going to make it harder."

Kakashi suppressed a groan at this poor choice of words and did his best to forcibly relax. Until she had slipped her bare knees on either side of his equally bare waist he had been able to keep himself under tight control. But now… now, he was in trouble. His mutinous brain was not helping matters either as the best massage scenes from all of Jiraiya's dirty novels insisted on floating to the forefront of his mind.

Sakura felt her patient's breathing pattern and pulse change; a light flush crept across her face as she guessed what might be causing a problem for the elite shinobi. Though he was legendary for his sense of self control, Kakashi was also a man and, like most men, susceptible to certain stimulations, such as her current, rather intimate position. The source of her surprise was not the fact that he was only human – it was that _she_ had been able to affect the stoic Copy Ninja in such a way. With some annoyance, she cleared her mind to better concentrate on what she was doing.

Not wanting to cause him more distress than absolutely necessary, Sakura did her best to quickly and efficiently finish removing the last of the stubborn knots. Unfortunately, the thought that he was having problems with his self-control while _she_ was giving him a massage was causing her mind to wander happily off and into the realms of fantasy or, more likely, Icha Icha. Hastily, though not as quickly as she should have, she shoved those distracting thoughts aside and renewed her efforts.

Even while dealing with his 'troubles' brought on by Sakura's now rather intimate oh-so-stimulating position, Kakashi was still able to find himself entertained by her reactions. The older man had felt her stiffen and pause momentarily once his breathing and heart rate changed before resuming the massage more forcefully than before. Obviously, she had clued in to the fact that he was having some problems controlling certain natural responses, and he couldn't help but find her clear embarrassment amusing. Nevertheless, his failure to keep his body's reaction to himself, didn't mean that the silver haired man wouldn't continue to try and regain control – he had no intention of overtly adding to what he assumed would be a bit of awkwardness between the two of them once she was done.

When she finally finished, Sakura sighed and settled herself back next to her patient to do a final scan to make sure she hadn't missed something – and, to give him a little time to pull himself together. As far as she was concerned, so long as she didn't actually see proof that she had had a certain effect on her former sensei she could pretend not to have noticed. The medic figured she must have guessed correctly as she watched Kakashi slowly stretch while letting out a huge exhalation of breath, almost a sigh, before carefully pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"Okay, Kakashi," she said with a hint of strained cheerfulness in her voice, "You're all set, should be as good as new now." Still acting as casual as possible, Sakura rose to her feet, realizing that she really should return to the hospital to finish her shift. By now, her coworkers would be wondering why she had been gone for so long for what should have been a routine check-up. "I have no idea how you function when you're tense like that – geeze, most men would have been uncomfortable enough to seek some sort of relief from a skilled professional."

Kakashi chuckled a little at her apparently innocent choice of words and enjoyed the little flush that crept onto her cheeks as she probably realized what she had just said.

Hastily Sakura smiled at him, willing the strangeness of the situation to go away. "Right, um, so anyway... all set then? I need to head back to work." She watched as he stretched again before rising to his feet. Doing her best to suppress another blush she made a motion as though to head to the door, before pausing. "Don't let it go so long next time, okay?"

He nodded his agreement, barely able to hide a smile, enjoying her little fit of embarrassment. As he watched her take her leave, he found it amusing that his all too natural difficulty had unsettled her as much as it did.

* * *

"Actually, I think it was better over there." Sakura frowned a little as she examined the configuration of her furniture for the tenth time, ignoring the annoyed and frustrated looks the two young men were shooting her.

"That's what you said the last time, Sakura!" Her blonde former teammate exclaimed, allowing some of his exasperation to show.

"Well, I thought wrong. I want the couch over there," she gestured to one of the walls, "and the armchair over there," she gestured again, but paused. "No, actually the armchair should be over there," she gestured to a different portion of the room, "and the coffee table, here."

"Are you sure, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, eyeing her warily. As much as he would never want to admit it, he was getting a little tired of constantly shifting her furniture around. Her apartment wasn't very large, but she had managed to come up with quite a variety of different layouts and apparently wanted to try them all before settling on one. Luckily, they only had her bedroom to do once they finished with her living area.

She nodded decisively, wondering what could have happened to the delivery person. Naruto and Sasuke were getting grumpy and the food she ordered should have arrived already.

As if on cue, just as her two former teammates finished moving the furniture, someone knocked.

Happily, the kunoichi hurried to the door with her money – forgetting that her new apartment building had a state-of-the-art security system that no simple delivery person would have been able to get through on his or her own.

"Kakashi?" she exclaimed with some surprise on opening the door. "What are you doing here?"

The elite jonin smiled and pushed a bag-laden young man in front of him. "I found him wandering around outside – must have been lost."

She eyed her former sensei suspiciously but let it pass as he entered her apartment with the food, leaving her to settle up with the deliveryman and send him on his way. A few moments later, she followed Kakashi back inside and moved to her kitchen where she could hear the three men talking as they pulled the cartons of food from the bags and started to eat.

As Sakura sat down to join then, Kakashi handed her a carton containing a favorite dish of both hers and Sasuke's. She smiled gratefully at him, and missed entirely the Uchiha's eyes narrowing over the unusual blatant act of favoritism by their former sensei.

"So, as I was saying, Kakashi... I wanted to thank you for stopping all that secret admirer junk." Naruto continued the conversation she had interrupted between large mouthfuls of noodles. "Sasuke and I were a little worried since we couldn't figure it out…"

Exercising a supreme sense of self control, the silver haired man was only just able to keep himself from choking. Naruto was the last person he would ever have expected to guess that he had been playing the part of Sakura's secret admirer. If anything, he would have thought that Sasuke would be the one to figure it out – certainly before the often dense, blonde man at the very least.

"But, then it stopped and we realized it had to be you." Naruto gestured at the older man while still attacking his food with gusto.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Sakura exclaimed with clear surprise – a small part of her was also panicking at the thought that Naruto had actually figured it out.

Sasuke sighed, feeling slightly annoyed with his former teammate for his inability to say something that didn't need clarification. "What he meant was, neither of us was able to figure out who was leaving you gifts, so we figured that Kakashi had, and had taken the appropriate measures… it _has_ been quite a while since you last received an anonymous gift. The coward must have been persuaded to give up."

Feeling relieved, though careful not to show it, Kakashi finally felt able to respond appropriately. "Ah, I see. Sorry to disappoint you two, but I did nothing of the kind." He shrugged and continued eating.

The two younger men exchanged glances, chagrined.

Sakura sighed loudly. "Will you guys just give it up already? I'm sure he probably lost interest or found someone else more worthy of his attention." She eyed them, trying to gauge their willingness to let the matter drop once and for all. "Really, just let it lie."

"Not until we've made sure that loser is going to leave you alone." Naruto huffed into his carton of noodles. "He doesn't deserve you and is definitely up to something."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then again addressed the kunoichi. "Sakura, no man goes so completely out of his way as to shower a woman with flowers for an entire day without expecting _something_ in return, and he certainly doesn't just lose interest after doing something like that."

Wanting to laugh, but feeling too exasperated to do so, Sakura realized that she would get nowhere with her teammates on the issue – they were just too stubborn. Thus, Instead of trying to convince them to leave the issue alone, she changed the subject. "So, when are you two going back out again? I thought I heard Tsunade mention another mission earlier today?"

Sasuke checked his watch and cursed. "Shit! We spent too long rearranging your furniture. We're due for the mission briefing in ten minutes."

Still stuffing noodles into his mouth, Naruto rose hastily. "Oh oops, gotta go. Tsunade'll kill us if we're late! Now that you have Kakashi, he can help you out in the bedroom."

"Excuse me?" asked Sakura, who suddenly found her mind temporarily unable to pull itself from the gutter as a small part of her began to wonder just what it would be like to have her former sensei help her in the bedroom – the idea was all too appealing for her liking.

"The bedroom," elaborated Naruto. "Kakashi can help you arrange the rest of your furniture – we've got to go."

"Oh, right! I'd forgotten that we hadn't done it yet. Okay, thanks for all your help!" Exclaimed Sakura as she sharply reined in her wayward thoughts.

As soon as the two men took their leave, Kakashi pulled down his mask and resumed eating.

After a couple minutes of companionable silence, Sakura felt it necessary to try and broach the subject of her 'secret admirer' with Kakashi. So far there had been a sort of unspoken understanding between them that they weren't to discuss it.

"Er, Kakashi?"

"Hmm?"

"Um, it's probably a good thing that you've lost interest…"

He raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

Sakura flushed a little and hurried to clarify. "I mean, you know, stopped leaving me little gifts at work…"

He chuckled and was unable to stop himself from teasing her a little. "Who's to say that I lost interest?"

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed with some surprise. "You've certainly given me more gifts than a… I could ever expect! That robe alone…" she trailed off as she thought of the beautiful garment and the all too pleasant sensation of his breath on her neck and his arms around her waist when he had helped her into it not too long ago. Sakura had to acknowledge that if he had actually been serious in leaving those gifts for her as a real admirer, he would have already won her interest if not her affection – judging from the game he had been playing as her secret admirer, Kakashi was evidently a force to be reckoned with when interested in a woman. Not that she had ever seen it, but she had a hard time imagining any woman resisting any sort of serious advances from him for long – he was just too good.

"What's wrong? Afraid I'm expecting something in return?" Kakashi smirked, knowing what her reaction would be, and he wasn't disappointed.

The kunoichi flushed a brilliant scarlet and decided to let the matter drop. She should have known, she reflected, that she wouldn't get any sort of serious answer from the silver haired man.

Once they finished their meal and cleared away the mess, he caught Sakura eyeing him and correctly interpreted the reason for it. Kakashi chuckled a little at her concern. "Relax Sakura, I'll give you a hand with the bedroom."

She smiled prettily at him, feeling thankful that he was not going to skip out on her. "Oh, good. It's fairly small, so there are really only a couple configurations that will allow all my furniture to fit." As she spoke she led him around the boxes and back to her room.

He took a quick look around her room upon entering. Almost immediately, a splash of red, white and silver in her open closet caught his attention. His eye widened a little as he recognized the garment. Sakura stopped talking, and turned to catch his gaze lingering on her closet. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked with a little surprise.

She blushed a little. "Probably... as much as I wanted to burn it I just couldn't… it _is_ rather pretty… if one ignores the fact that it comes from the world of Icha Icha…"

He chuckled. In fact, he had wondered if she had kept the dress. A small part of him wanted to know if she ever intended on wearing it again – and, if so, if he would be granted the chance to be present for the occasion. Just as he was about to turn his attention back to the furniture, his eye fell upon something white and highly starched hanging next to the red dress. Not quite able to believe what he was seeing, he took a step closer. Gingerly, he removed the article of clothing from the closet for a better look – it was a cute, but still quite naughty, nurse outfit. His gaze returned to Sakura questioningly.

Sensing his eyes on her, she turned away from him and felt the blush return. "Ah… _that_."

"Where did you get _this_ one?" he asked, unable to keep his voice as neutral as he would have liked.

She laughed nervously. "They're quite popular in Suna right now for nurses, you know, since it's so hot there…."

"I see… so you… wear this when you travel there?" Kakashi asked, enjoying the idea of such a world where the female medical staff wore such provocative uniforms as a matter of course.

"Ah, no. No, not at all. I've never actually worn it. Genma gave it to me on the last mission we had together. I suppose the heat must have gotten to him to think that I'd wear something like," she reached out and, taking the garment from the surprised silver haired man, held it up to herself, "this for _him_."

He gulped almost audibly at seeing the outfit held up against her form, which made it only too easy to imagine her in it. Still, a couple of pieces clicked into place at the mention of his lecherous friend's name – most notably, the gift Genma had 'given' to Kakashi for his birthday. Inwardly, he had to groan at his friend's taste and sense of the appropriate for gifts. Rather forcefully he pulled his gaze from Sakura to examine the furniture in the small room, while a small part of him indulged in a new fantasy, wondering what he could do to get the kunoichi to model the uniform for him… or, even better, treat him while wearing it.

* * *

Sakura sighed to herself as she rerolled what seemed to be the hundredth scroll and looked at the pile that appeared to have grown rather than shrunk since she had sat down. Covertly, she shot a look at the blonde woman currently studying a difficult looking jutsu scroll – at least, she thought, she wasn't working alone. With renewed determination, she pulled another scroll from the pile and started reading.

A couple hours later, just as the pile had finally started to go down, her work was interrupted by a firm knock on the door. At the Hokage's resigned 'come in', two men entered – Sakura recognized one of the jonin who regularly served gate duty; the other man she found incredibly familiar, but couldn't quite place.

"Hokage," said the shinobi, "this man has an urgent request to make."

Carefully, Tsunade put the scroll she had been working on aside, then studied the man before her. "I see," she said. "What have you come to ask of Konoha?"

The man shuffled a little nervously, clearly uncomfortable in the presence of such powerful people. "Well, Lady, I'm from a small village near the border in Rain. Uh, um, you sent aid to us not too long ago to help stop an epidemic…"

Sakura, who had been trying not to listen, and to ignore the looks the man kept sending her way, suddenly found herself interested in the conversation.

"I see. What sort of aid are you requesting from us now?"

"Er, you see, a couple villagers were out hunting and they stumbled upon a cache of strange bottles. They didn't know what to do, so they took the bottles back to the village. While they were showing them to their friends, they broke one… I guess it contained the disease your village helped us fight off the last time."

"Hmm, didn't we also show your healers how to treat it?" Tsunade asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Um, yes, and the techniques work, they work very well… It's just that, well..." The man nervously shifted his weight from one leg to the other, feeling very uncomfortable with the situation. "It's too quick for our healers to contain. It has spread too fast for us to keep up with it."

"Ah, so you'd like for us to help you again?"

"Yes, Lady Hokage. We are desperate for your help. We hoped you would assign the same woman to come…" He gazed longingly at Sakura, who was still trying to dutifully work on her scroll. "We know it will be very expensive, but we are willing to pay… The future of our village depends on it."

"Hmm, well... as you can see, she is a very busy woman. I will need to discuss this… please wait outside."

As soon as the two men left Tsunade let out a long string of curses before turning to her pink haired, former student. "You're not in any position to leave the village right now, are you?"

Sadly, Sakura shook her head in a negative. "Not really… I have that research deadline approaching, Kakashi's been out of the village for the better part of the past month or so… I can't progress with my findings until I can check a couple things with him." She felt frustrated as she really wanted to help the village but her time had already been committed to another mission. "They're really pushing me on this, too… I think they're irritated in that they have been stonewalled in their own research and are now depending mostly on mine. To be fair, Kakashi is a hell of a lot more cooperative than… well, anyway I can't blame him for not trusting them, I probably wouldn't either... but that's beside the point. I just don't have the time right now if we're to make the next deadline." Sakura ended her thoughtful rambling by shaking her head with a sigh.

The busty woman sighed; she had intentionally been sending the elite jonin out on back to back missions to make up for lost time from when he had been refusing assignments. With some annoyance, she pulled out the master copy of the duty roster and flipped to the medics. After a couple minutes of study, she slammed the book shut.

"It's no good," grumbled Tsunade. "You're all we have at the moment, and he did request you specifically... We'll just have to miss that deadline. They're medics after all; they should understand that quelling an epidemic is more important than this joint medical research project. Besides, since we've been more than accommodating to their schedule, it's about time that they accommodate us a little."

Sakura nodded, feeling relieved; her conscience would have given her a lot of problems if she hadn't somehow been able to take the mission. "Right, when do you want me to leave?" As she spoke, she tidied her work space and rose, ready to make her exit.

"As soon as possible," replied the Hokage. "But, first let me assign you a partner. I can't let you go alone and if your last report is anything to go by, you'll definitely need someone there with you… Let me see," she opened the duty roster again and flipped through. "Ah, Raido, Genma, Lee and Guy are available. Take your pick."

"Um… I, I'd rather…" Sakura trailed off suddenly upon finding herself reluctant to admit her preference out loud. "Well, to be honest, I'd rather have Kakashi… he's due back in the village today."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow questioningly, although she was not as surprised as she should have been by the younger medic's request. "Oh really? And, why would you want to take _him_? He'll be just coming off another mission, ANBU to be precise. No doubt Kakashi will be tired and might not be operating at one hundred percent."

"Oh, er, well…" Sakura hesitated. She was having a hard time vocalizing just why she wanted her former sensei to join her on what would basically amount to a babysitting mission, in that he would be spending his time taking care of her. "He did come with me the last time… and did a… pretty good job taking care of me… and things."

Tsunade laughed. "You have a strange definition of a good job. He left you with Naruto, against orders, so he could take down that rogue medic – and in doing so managed to get a near fatal dose of the disease you were dealing with. _You_ almost did yourself in saving him and _he_ tried to kill _you_ in the middle of the night in some sort of delirium caused by the disease…" She shook her head in disbelief, not only at what Sakura had said, but at the fact that she had said anything about it at all since it definitely wasn't one of Kakashi's better missions. "And, you think he did a _good_ job taking care of you?"

Feeling a little annoyed, Sakura nodded. "Yes. When all was said and done he got me back here in one piece, didn't he? And, _he_ stopped himself before actually trying to hurt me, I don't think he could, even when he was not in his right mind." Realizing she would need more to convince the clearly skeptical Hokage, she grasped at straws. "Besides, now that he has _had_ the illness, he's immune. I won't have the time or energy to heal my teammate… if it's Kakashi, then I won't have to, will I?"

"Ah, you do have a point there," replied the older woman, suspecting that Sakura had other reasons to defend her choice of Kakashi for the mission. "But, he's been out on an ANBU mission and I am unable to order him to go with you so soon after returning to the village – it's part of the Konoha's law to prevent overworking elite shinobi such as Kakashi." As she spoke, she noted the pink woman's shoulders droop a little in what she could only guess was disappointment and decided to throw her a bone. "However, there's no law to prevent him from _voluntarily_ accompanying you after just returning from an ANBU mission. I don't know if he will..." The Hokage snorted to herself, knowing full well that he would. "...but, _you_ are more than welcome to ask him. If he says yes, then fine – the two of you will set out with the villager tonight. If he says no, then you'll go with Genma." She was unable to stop herself from adding that last bit as an impetus for her former student to actually ask Kakashi, and for the elite jonin to accept. From what she had heard, Kakashi had been getting a bit overprotective of his former student when the local letch was involved.

Sakura opened her mouth, unsure how to respond and even less sure now about even asking Kakashi to join her on the mission, especially since he was likely to be exhausted and she had no real right to make such a request of him. As she was debating with herself, the decision was taken from her hands – the man in question appeared in Tsunade's window, dressed in slightly battered ANBU gear. Surprisingly enough, despite his appearance, he did not seem to be injured.

Kakashi had, in fact, landed outside Tsunade's window just as the villager from Rain arrived. Pushing his ANBU mask aside, he tossed his completed mission scroll to the Hokage.

She smiled, having known that he was there listening to the entire conversation. "Everything go as it was supposed to?"

"Yes. It was easier than it should have been."

Tsunade shrugged. "Sometimes the clients overstate things rather than understate them. Either way, we get paid just the same. Good work."

Kakashi nodded and turned to his former student who, he was faintly amused to note, was blushing a little. "Just tell me what time we're leaving, Sakura, and I'll meet you at the gate."

Her eyes widened in surprise, having not realized just how much of her conversation with Tsunade he had heard. Without really thinking about it, she responded. "Seven. We'll leave at seven tonight."

Kakashi smiled and headed to the door to take his leave. As he was about to pass Sakura, he reached out to ruffle her hair. Then, his hand paused and, instead, landed on her shoulder for a moment before he continued on and out of the room.

Tsunade did her best to hide a smirk – the silver haired man's aborted action and recovery had revealed that he was having a hard time keeping her former apprentice at arm's length. If she had had any lingering doubts, about just where the Copy Ninja stood on his intentions this simple sequence had cleared them. It was obvious to the older woman that Kakashi now saw Sakura, not as a former student, but as a woman and an equal.


	25. Chapter Twenty Five: Merry What Now?

A/N: My sincere apologies for the tardiness of this chapter. I didn't lose interest or hit a wall or get stuck by block or anything dire. (I'm actually working on the last couple vignettes for chapter 33 right now which looks to be the last chapter. So long story short this fic won't be abandoned – would be stupid to do since I've already written almost all of it.) A lot of little things (an extended Golden Week holiday and busy betas among them) kind of added up pushing my posting date further and further back. Many, many, _many_ thanks to my betas – you guys know I wouldn't be posting without your help! Also, _huge_ thanks to my readers and reviewers! I was shocked to see that I had passed 100,000 hits a couple weeks ago – not bad for a silly (not so) little bit of fluff. :) And, _even more_ thanks to Flametwirler for nominating this little fic for a Naruto Choice Award. THANK YOU everyone!! :D

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five: Merry What Now?

As they drew closer to the inn that was their destination, Kakashi was surprised to feel Sakura slip her hand into his. Somewhat startled, he looked down at their hands and back up at her.

She giggled a little at his surprise and answered his unasked question. "Last I heard, the manageress thought we were married? Wouldn't want her to think that I didn't appreciate that gorgeous robe from my attentive older husband, now would I?"

"Eh-heh, you heard about that, did you?" Kakashi raised his free hand to the back of his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed – although, he was glad that he wouldn't have to broach the topic himself before they arrived.

"Ino isn't exactly one you could really refer to as discreet, no." Sakura flushed a little in spite of herself. "Um, there isn't anything else I should know before we arrive, is there?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, trying to remember just what else he might have said to the woman who ran the hotel where they would be staying; he groaned to himself when he remembered the excuse he had used to explain Sakura's absence. "Oh, Well…" he replied, "Now that you've mentioned it... there was one other thing… To explain why you weren't with me the last time I might have told her you were pregnant."

Sakura stopped, pulling the older man to a halt as well. "What?!"

"Yes," continued Kakashi cautiously, really hoping that she wouldn't be _too_ annoyed. "I told her that you were pregnant and wanted to see your friend who lived in a nearby village, so I went to get her as a surprise for you. It seemed like the easiest way to explain why I was there with Ino, instead of you, without shattering her image of us as some mismatched couple from out of one of her books… She seemed to buy it." He shrugged then and, while she was distracted, momentarily freed his hand from hers in order to relieve her of her bag – after all, if they were going to play the roles of a married couple, he'd be darned before letting 'his wife' carry her own luggage.

Still a bit surprised, Sakura simply stood for a moment as she absorbed this information, only distantly aware that he had just taken her bag from her.. "That was the best you could come up with, he of over one-thousand excuses as well as jutsu?"

"Seemed like a pretty good explanation at the time. What's wrong with it?"

"Aside from the fact that I'm obviously _not _pregnant and we don't have a child with us?" she asked, now feeling a little irritated with the situation.

"Ah, that…" He shrugged again, hoping to play the whole thing off correctly. "This trip is a romantic getaway. I arranged for the baby to stay with your mother so we could have some quality alone time together."

She just looked at him with an eyebrow raised, wondering how he had come up with that sort of a story at such short notice and at the same time not quite buying any of it – the story or the fact that he had just come up with it. "Really," she said. "And just what would we be doing on such a romantic getaway that we couldn't do with a baby?"

Kakashi grinned mischievously and decided to tease her a little. "Make another one," he answered. He was almost immediately sorry as his mind latched on to the idea of spending some serious time in the bedroom with her – the thought was much more appealing than he would ever want to admit aloud.

It took only a moment for his statement to sink in, and once it did Sakura felt her face heat. "Kakashi!" she exclaimed. She suddenly had a hard time keeping thoughts of just what his suggestion would entail out of her mind and, to her surprise, she was much more curious than she felt she should be.

He laughed. "Easy Sakura, it was just a suggestion – a very believable one too. I've heard that a lot of husbands complain about not getting to spend any _quality_ _time_ with their wives after their first child is born."

The still blushing kunoichi glared at him but resumed walking toward the inn, grumbling under her breath and doing her best to eradicate a mental picture of Kakashi in the bedroom – as well as the mini-fantasy it had spawned.

He chuckled again. "It's just a cover story Sakura, don't worry about it so much. We won't be here long and, of the time that we are here, very little will be spent in the hotel anyway." Without thinking, he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

She sighed and nodded, still feeling embarrassed over his suggested cover story. Sakura hoped that it wouldn't cause them any trouble as such things generally had a way of getting blown out of proportion.

* * *

"Oh! Welcome back!" cried the elderly woman as she crossed the lobby to greet the couple checking in. She had quickly recognized them as her favorite past guests – a status they had earned simply because they exemplified a particularly memorable couple from one of her beloved romance novels. "I think that congratulations are in order!" She gazed around them myopically, obviously looking for something. "Where's the little one?" she asked.

Sakura blushed, feeling too embarrassed to put forth Kakashi's cover story. Luckily for her, Kakashi wasn't nearly as shy about it as she was.

The older man let her hand slip from his in order for him to slide that arm around her shoulders. "With the mother-in-law," he answered. "This is a trip just for the two of us." He smiled at the manageress, raised an eyebrow suggestively and pulled Sakura a little closer.

The hotel manageress's eyes widened with glee. "Oh-ho! So that's it, eh? You randy old thing, couldn't get any alone time with your wife with a little one around, huh?" She chuckled consolingly. "An all too common complaint, I assure you."

Doing his best not to laugh at Sakura's clear embarrassment (he could almost feel the younger woman willing herself to disappear), Kakashi raised his unoccupied hand to the back of his neck laughed nervously as if the old woman had nailed the situation.

"Well, well, we'll soon fix that, won't we?" With an impatient motion, she shooed away the woman who had begun Sakura and Kakashi's check – in process. "Let me see…" she murmured to herself. "Oh, no this will never do…" She flipped a couple pages and muttered to herself for a moment before nodding decisively. "Ah, yes, this is much better." Happily, she made a couple changes to the reservation book and pulled a set of keys from the rack behind her. "I've taken the liberty to order you breakfast in bed for every morning you are here with us, and made instructions for housekeeping not to clean your room unless you request it, so no one should disturb you, day or night, aside from breakfast. Please enjoy your stay, and if you need anything else do not hesitate to ask." With a not-so-subtle wink, she handed the room keys to Kakashi and waved them toward the stairs.

Once they were out of sight, Sakura sighed with relief and unintentionally sagged closer to the silver haired man whose arm was still draped across her shoulders. She was glad _that_ uncomfortable incident was over. The old woman was definitely enjoying their fake relationship more than she really should. But, as embarrassing as it was, Sakura didn't think she could bring herself to correct the hotel manageress and deprive the older woman of her (mostly) harmless fun.

Kakashi took one look at her relieved expression and decided not to laugh or remove his arm from her shoulders. A couple moments of silent walking brought them to their room which, they quickly noted, was curiously distanced from all the other rooms on their floor. Upon opening the door, however, Kakashi found himself unable to contain his mirth any longer.

As soon as Sakura saw the room, she rounded on him with obvious annoyance at the overly frilly decor and the single large bed. "You've got to be kidding me... the honeymoon suite?! _Damn it, _Kakashi, you overdid it!"

He only laughed harder and, when he finally got his breath back, shot her a sidelong glance; Kakashi couldn't resist one last poke at the embarrassed kunoichi. "Don't worry, Sakura. Unlike _some_ former teammates, I know how to keep my hands to myself in bed."

* * *

Sakura covered her yawn as politely as she could. It had been a very long day and all she really wanted to do was to curl up in bed and sleep. Unfortunately, it was much too early for her to be drifting off into the land of slumber – she knew that if she did give into the urge to sleep, by the middle of the night she would find herself wide awake and very sorry.

Sakura had quickly realized that there was little variation in the treatment needed by the epidemic's victims; over the past couple of days, through practice and repetition she had been able to streamline her healing process, allowing her to treat patients faster. Unfortunately, the process had also resulted in a more rapid depletion of her chakra, resulting in her current predicament: completely drained and killing time at the hotel, and trying very hard not to doze off as she waited for Kakashi. The Copy Ninja had gone up to their room to take a shower before they headed out to dinner. He had left her down in the little coffee shop on the first floor, knowing that if she waited for him in their room she would give in to temptation and curl up to sleep on the largely impractical bed they were sharing.

As she was toying with her tea, two women, about her age, seated themselves at her table. This was not unusual – the coffee shop was small and on previous occasions she and Kakashi had found themselves sharing a table with the other patrons of the inn. Absently, Sakura nodded and smiled at them and continued to stir her tea inattentively.

Her exhaustion was causing her mind to linger on the fact that she had been sharing a bed with Kakashi, something she had been trying hard to ignore for the past couple weeks. It wasn't the first time they had had to do so on a mission, but something seemed subtly different about it this time and, try as she might, she couldn't quite put her finger on just what it was. Vaguely, she had to chalk it up to the fact that the bed, while large enough for two, was still a little small for her comfort given that she was sharing with her former sensei. It was also a bit too soft for her liking. A small part of her had to wonder if Kakashi was having the same problems with the bed that she was.

Lost in thought, Sakura missed the looks the two women exchanged before they decided to start a conversation with the pink haired medic.

"_Finally_! We get you alone!" one of the women exclaimed with obvious delight.

Immediately on guard, Sakura's attention snapped back to the present. "Eh?" she asked cautiously, wondering what the women might want from her.

"That husband of yours…" the woman elaborated. "Man, he's a hard one to get you away from!"

"He must be one of the least secure men in town," added her friend. "Then again, with a younger wife like you, some insecurity might be merited… or at the very least a wise precaution…"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Sakura replied. She wasn't sure what they could possibly be getting at other than the fact that Kakashi had been doing a good job of playing the role of the ever attentive husband, rarely leaving her alone for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

The other two women exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.

"He never leaves you alone. Geeze, talk about overprotective… or jealous…"

The pink haired woman hid a smile, knowing full well that he had only been doing his duty which, for this particular mission, was to protect and take care of her. She shrugged noncommittally, unsure what else she could say.

"Now that we've finally gotten you alone, we wanted to ask you something…"

"Yeah… we've been wondering… about your husband…"

"So what are you doing with an old man like him anyway?"

"_What_?" Sakura exclaimed, although almost immediately she realized that she shouldn't be surprised at their question – she had seen it in the eyes of several other patrons when she and Kakashi had walked by holding hands or when her 'husband' had placed a gentle hand at the small of her back or on her waist to guide her to the door or to their seats. There was just no way around the fact that, to the uninformed observer, Kakashi appeared to be many years older than her – more than the actual fourteen, in fact – and it caused a lot of eyebrows to raise upon seeing them together. All in all, Sakura found that she really didn't care all that much, and had learned to just ignore the curious glances and occasional stares. These questions, however, were a bit much. Unfortunately, because of the nature of their mission, the kunoichi knew that it would be in their best interests for her not to make a scene even though she was more than a little annoyed with the women's audacity.

"The old man… why are you with someone like him?" the first woman asked again. "I'm sure you could have easily found someone our age. So... what's so special about old gray hair?"

"Yeah," added her companion, "unless… Does he have a lot of money?"

"Uh, not that I'm aware of… Wait a minute, he's _not_ old."

"Not old? He's completely gray!"

"_Naturally_ gray," answered Sakura indignantly, "He isn't really all _that_ much older than me."

"Is it more than ten years?"

"Um, yes a little over ten…"

"Then he's still old."

Sakura sighed, suddenly feeling even more tired than she had been, and quite irritated with the nosy women. A small part of her had to wonder how she had managed to get herself into this conversation – it was time, she decided, to try and put a quick end to it. "Well, if you insist on thinking of him as old, there _are_ advantages to an older man. Age brings-"

"Wisdom, yeah, yeah I've heard that one before," one of the women interrupted her with a sigh and a negligent wave of her hand.

"Oh and, of course, maturity," the other woman rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently.

"Those too, I suppose…" the pink haired medic trailed off thoughtfully, her annoyance momentarily derailed.

"Eh? What do you mean, those _too_?"

"Well, I was going to say that age brings experience…" Sakura felt her face heat a little and cursed her dirty mind for thinking of Kakashi as she was. Knowing about his Icha Icha addiction only served to fuel the idea she was presenting to the other women. "I'll take experience over youth any day, especially in the..." She blushed and trailed off realizing exactly what she was saying and hoped she wouldn't need to finish her sentence as she was clearly more embarrassed than she really wanted to admit.

"What do you… oh, _oh…_"

"_Really_?"

Sakura nodded an affirmative and took a sip of her tea, hoping the women would get the picture and finally let the matter drop. She could feel her irritation with the two nosy ladies returning – she suppressed a cringe and watched both women's eyes widen as the unconsidered advantage of an older man finally occurred to them. After a moment or two, however, she realized that they were waiting to hear more and she sighed to herself – it would seem that the conversation was not over.

The harassed kunoichi continued, finding it difficult to keep her tone light and civil. "Besides, as you've already mentioned, he is a heck of a lot more attentive than most men our age. And, because he_ is_ older, he's in a much better position than a younger man to recognize a good thing when he has one. Consequently, if he needs to, he'll go to a lot more effort to make sure not to lose it."

"Hmm… okay… Fair enough. But… what about his appearance?"

"His appearance?" asked Sakura. She was genuinely bewildered at what the woman could be talking about. Kakashi was certainly far from ugly; even with the majority of him covered in bulky clothing, it was still fairly obvious that he cut quite an attractive figure.

The two women exchanged glances and laughed.

"Come on, you can't fool us. He has to wear that mask for a reason."

"Precisely. So just how ugly is he under there anyway?"

Sakura was only just able to contain her anger, and it took a couple of moments for her to be able to force herself to laugh. Silently, she thanked her kunoichi training for the lessons on emotional control – something she only ever bothered to use while on missions – and answered. "I used to think the same thing… but now… I know better."

"What? You _can't_ be serious?"

"He's just _got_ to be ugly as sin under there!"

The tight control Sakura had been exerting over her emotions suddenly loosened – a bit of an edge entered her voice. "That's my husband you're talking about, you know."

The other women exchanged uncertain glances. However, they were not quite ready to let the conversation drop, regardless the pink haired woman's displeasure.

After a moment's silence, one of the women eyed Sakura speculatively. "I suppose I could put up with some serious ugly if he really _were_ good in the bedroom… But, man, he must be _really_ good to have ended up with someone like _you_..."

The pink haired woman blushed. Sakura had by now reached the limit of her patience and was unwilling to elaborate further. Instead, she drained the last of her tea in the hope that the two nosy women would get the hint and change the topic. Just as she set her teacup back down, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Hastily, Sakura fought a deeper blush upon seeing Kakashi. As had been happening more and more often of late, she hadn't sensed him approach.

"You ready for dinner?" he asked, suppressing a knowing grin.

"Yes," answered a relieved Sakura. She nodded at the two surprised women, and was gratified to see they both had the decency to blush. "Have a nice night," she said, as she rose to her feet.

Kakashi slipped an arm around his companion's slim waist and, after nodding amiably to the two still embarrassed women, steered her toward the door and dinner. He had become quite touchy-feely in his role of the ever attentive husband. To be honest, Kakashi was enjoying having carte blanche to handle Sakura as intimately as he liked in public – and, on a deeper level, a part of him figured that she was enjoying the situation almost as much as he was as she never removed his appendages once they had stepped out of the limelight… and he never did so of his own accord.

Once they were out of hearing range Sakura lightly slapped the older man's chest. "What took you so long?"

He chuckled. "What? Did the conversation get a bit uncomfortable for you?"

She froze and turned to face him, too angry to blush. "Oh, you… you smug bastard! You were listening to the whole thing, weren't you?"

He nodded, unable to hide his grin despite the presence of his mask.

"Ugh! You could have stepped in and saved me, you know!"

"I could have… but then, if I did... well, they would have just cornered you again some other time. At least now they'll probably leave you alone." Kakashi chuckled again. He also had to admit to himself that he had enjoyed listening to the conversation. "I suspect that they'll be too busy looking for older men of their own now…"

She swatted him halfheartedly. "Pervert."

He laughed and absently pulled her a little closer as they continued on to dinner. And, he noted that, despite her annoyance, she didn't try to pull away.

* * *

Too tired to really think, Sakura wearily followed Kakashi into the hotel. It had been a long day and, even though the silver haired jonin had carried her as far as the town limits, she was completely exhausted. Sakura was so close to getting the epidemic under control that it had been hard to stop when Kakashi had decided that she had had enough for the day. Now, however, the only thing on her mind was sleep.

Just as they were about to reach the hall leading to the stairs, the hotel manageress called out to them. "Not so fast, my little love birds! Aren't you forgetting something?" She pointed to the ceiling above them.

With some trepidation, Sakura looked up. She frowned, trying to make some sort of logical guess what she was supposed to do about a sprig of greenery with little white berries… then, she silently groaned as she realized what it was: mistletoe. Sighing to herself, she turned to the slightly bewildered man next to her, slipped her hands up and around his neck to pull him down a little closer to her height, and lightly pecked him on his mask-covered cheek.

The old woman groaned theatrically. "You call _that_ a kiss? I feel sorry for your husband!"

Despite herself, Sakura laughed a little and tried again, aiming for Kakashi's lips and figuring that, since he was wearing his mask, it wouldn't really count. As soon as her lips touched Kakashi's, however, his arms slid around her and, before she could even blink, she was scooped up with a practiced motion and carried swiftly toward their room. Sakura realized that the quick-thinking jonin had efficiently prevented the manageress from seeing that their kiss had been lightning quick and completely chaste – anything but the passion filled exchange that would bring about the sort of departure he had just executed. And, she had to admit to herself that it had also been a great way to get out of climbing the couple flights of stairs to their floor.

The old woman laughed gleefully behind them, thinking that the kiss had just sparked quite the romantic evening.

Kakashi was mildly surprised when Sakura didn't attempt to wriggle out of his grasp as soon as they were out of the hotel manageress's sight. Instead, she sighed and relaxed, and had not allowed her arms to slide from around his neck. Not quite sure what to make of this, he decided to tease her a little and see what happened. "What, no exclamation of annoyance or embarrassment at my actions?" he asked.

She eyed him sleepily, and he wished he hadn't said anything.

"I suspect it was necessary given how disappointed she seemed with just a little peck on your cheek," she replied. "Short of you pulling down your mask for the real thing, I can't think of anything that would have pleased her more than what you did."

Somewhat startled by her statement, he laughed.

"Hmm, we're going to have to be more careful next time, though…" she added, then yawned. "Hopefully we'll be able to avoid it in the future…" Sakura felt her face flush, knowing that a fake, quick kiss probably wouldn't pass muster a second time – even if the hotel manageress was nearly blind. But the pink haired woman wasn't sure if she could do the real thing without some sort of reaction or lasting effect on their friendship.

Seeing her blush, Kakashi frowned playfully and loosened his grip on her slightly. "What? Don't like public displays of affection from your husband?"

Hastily, she clung to him to avoid the possibility of crashing to the ground, even though she knew he would never intentionally drop her. "_Kakashi_! That isn't the problem here!"

The older man chuckled again and tightened his grip on her just as they arrived at their room. Then, he shifted her enough to allow him to pull out a key and unlock their door before carrying her inside and setting her down lightly by the bed.

* * *

Kakashi could tell that Sakura was close to both wiping out the epidemic entirely and draining herself completely of chakra. Intently, he watched her start in on yet another villager; as he observed, he decided that this would be the last one for the day. As soon she finished and the patient exited the exam area Sakura stretched a little and he realized that she was getting ready to go get the next one.

A hand settled on her shoulder and Sakura turned, startled to find Kakashi gazing at her with a little concern.

"That's enough, Sakura." Kakashi answered her unasked question firmly.

"Oh…" She wobbled a little on her feet, and realized that he was right. "Um, okay."

The medic gathered her things and followed her former sensei from the exam area. However, just as they were about to make an exit, the village's chief doctor rushed in with a crowd of people carrying the last four patients she had treated the day before. To her dismay, they were obviously much worse than they had been the last time she had seen them.

The doctor's eyes brightened upon seeing Sakura. "Medic! We're so glad you're still here… they've relapsed, and nothing we've tried has worked!"

Startled, she turned to Kakashi, silently asking for his opinion. He sighed, knowing that dealing with the additional four patients would put her past her limit – but, then again, that was part of the reason why he was there. The Copy Ninja nodded, not missing the fact that everyone in the room had been staring at him pleadingly – the villagers knew his consent was needed, for as much as Sakura was the healer, he was in charge of her welfare.

Sakura quickly returned to the exam room to set up for four more. Slowly, Kakashi followed and settled himself by the door to watch her work, and to wait for the inevitable. The jonin's gaze softened from the usual hard gaze he wore when he was acting as a bodyguard… and filled with pride as he noticed how she efficiently split her attention between the four patients – which was smart, he realized, considering she most likely did not have enough chakra to fully deal with all four of them. Once the blue glow from her hands started flickering regularly, however, he moved back to her side.

"Okay, that's it for today," ordered Kakashi. "Time to go back to the hotel. Anything else will just have to wait until tomorrow." His tone was firm and brooked no arguments from the exhausted medic or from the villagers. They had already learned that it was not wise to argue with Kakashi or anything he might say. His word had become law with them since he was watching over Sakura.

She sighed, knowing that he was right. "Right then." The medic turned her attention to the village's doctor and smiled sadly. "You heard the man, that's all I can do for the day. I do think that these four are probably past the most dangerous stage, though… I'll check them first tomorrow morning."

They gathered their things and took their leave, reassuring the villagers that they would return the next day. Once they had exited the village, Kakashi focused his attention back on Sakura and, before she could mention it one way or the other, he scooped her up and continued on their way back to the hotel. He was pleased to note that she made no fuss or comment on his actions as she usually did. Instead, she slipped her arms loosely around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder – obviously, she was beyond exhausted and only thinking about falling asleep. He smiled and left her alone, knowing she would probably wake up after they'd returned to the hotel… and if she didn't, he would wake her so she wouldn't have too much trouble sleeping that night.

A little over an hour later, Kakashi landed outside the village. Automatically slowing himself down, he adjusted both his gait and body language to fit their established cover story. As he made these changes, it suddenly occurred to him how he could slip past the manageress's mistletoe without causing Sakura any further embarrassment. Unable to prevent it, he smiled just a little under his mask.

Upon entering the hotel, Kakashi was gratified to see that the elderly woman was indeed sitting behind the front desk. Before she could say anything, he shifted Sakura a little to briefly free one hand and bring it up in front of his mask covered lips – silently asking the woman to be quiet.

The old woman's eyes widened before closing in silent laughter. When she opened them she winked at the Copy Ninja and motioned for him to continue on to his room.

With a sigh of relief, Kakashi headed for the stairs. However, when he reached the little sprig of mistletoe, he paused, knowing that the manageress was still watching. Then, gently, so as not to wake her, he bent down to kiss the woman in his arms before continuing on down the hall to the stairs.

Once they were safely back in their room, he carefully settled Sakura on the bed – as he eased off her shoes and the unnecessary outer articles of her clothing, he debated with himself over how long he should let her sleep. While he was thinking about it, he leafed through the room service menu, wondering what he would order for their dinner.

Just as he was resetting the phone in its cradle, he heard the pink haired woman start to stir. It would seem, he thought with a smile, that the decision of when to wake her had been taken out of his hands… and that it was just as well that he had ordered for both of them. Judging by how much chakra Sakura had used, she would be hungry enough to steal his food when it came rather than wait for her own.

Groggily, Sakura sat up and took note of the fact that she was back in the hotel room. "Ugh," she grumbled. "What time is it?"

"I was just about to wake you," replied the jonin. "It's half past seven or so. You've only been out for a couple hours."

With a slight groan, she allowed herself to flop back down on the bed; her exertions had taken more out of her than she had expected.

"I've just ordered dinner," Kakashi said kindly, "so it should be up shortly. After that you can go back to sleep if you like."

Sakura lifted her head to look at him gratefully. "Thanks, I'm _starving_."

Kakashi laughed. "I figured you would be and ordered extra food. You did more today than usual so I guessed you would be extra hungry."

She eyed him for a moment, wondering why he had allowed her to exhaust herself as she had – in the past he had been quite firm, even about late arrivals in critical condition. "Thanks for letting me stay a little longer today. My conscience would give me problems if I'd been unable to treat them today and found out tomorrow that we'd lost them."

Kakashi shrugged, not wanting to admit that he had allowed either her or the villagers to sway his opinion. To get her mind away from the matter he decided to tease her a little. "Your state of exhaustion had the unexpected advantage of making it easier to get past the manageress."

She felt her face heat a little. "Ah, I see…" Sakura replied, though she wasn't sure that she did. "And, did it work?"

He grinned. "Oh, yes, very well. I'm sure she's filling in the gaps with images from her romance novels as we speak."

"Kakashi!" The embarrassed woman tossed one of the frilly little pillows that resided on the bed at him.

He deftly caught it and promptly returned it to her. Irked, she bombarded him with more of the little decorative cushions and, with a smile, he pelted the soft projectiles right back at her. Annoyed, she pulled a larger one out from under herself and threw it at him. Kakashi caught it, chuckled, and rose to his feet to advance upon the kunoichi with the pillow held mock-menacingly in his hands.

Just as he was getting ready to retaliate, there was a knock on the door. With a sigh, he dropped the pillow on the bed and changed direction to answer it. A small part of him realized that he _should_ be glad for the interruption as he wasn't sure how far the pillow fight might have gone. He could easily see it turning into something… more complicated.

Kakashi wasn't surprised to see that the person at the door had their dinner. As he took the food from the curious hotel employee, he managed to prevent him from gaining even one peek into the honeymoon suite – the Copy Ninja could easily tell that the eager-looking younger man had been hoping to see a semi-clad Sakura lounging on the bed. And, within moments, thoughts of the other's expectations immediately summoned certain images to his own head. Hastily shaking his mind clear of such tempting ideas, Kakashi waved off the server and wheeled the little cart into their room.

Sakura sat up upon smelling the tempting aroma of food wafting up from the covered dishes on the cart. "Mmm, that smells good!" she exclaimed eagerly.

Kakashi chuckled. "I'd imagine almost anything would smell good to you right now."

She frowned and pouted at him for a moment before her hunger got the best of her and she happily dug into her meal with gusto.

Sakura felt much better after finishing her dinner, though she was still completely drained. Then, as she was replacing the dishes on the little cart, she spied a previously unnoticed and still covered dish on the lower shelf.

"What's this?" she asked as she lifted it for Kakashi to see. "Was there something you ordered that we didn't eat?"

Wrinkling his brow he tried to remember and came up blank. "Not that I can think of." Cautiously he reached out and lifted the lid, wondering what it could be.

Sakura gasped as the contents were revealed to her. "Oh! Cake with strawberries and cream, my favorite!!" Happily, she reached for one of the slices before noticing a note on the dish and pausing. Cautiously, she picked up the note, read it, and laughed. "It's from the manageress…" She flushed a bit. "Merry Christmas, Kakashi."

His eye widened. "Christmas, already?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. "I guess tonight's Christmas Eve, so the old woman wanted to make sure we shared some Christmas cake."

Kakashi laughed at her embarrassment and picked up the two plates, handing her one before starting in on his own. "Merry Christmas, Sakura."

With only a little hesitation, she took the proffered slice of cake and followed his lead. It was some of the best cake she had ever eaten.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura woke up feeling, for the most part, refreshed. As she sleepily stretched, her hand touched something unexpected. Curious, she cracked open her eyes to find a small box with a pretty ribbon sitting on the bed in front of her face. Surprised, she rolled over to make an inquiry of Kakashi and, upon finding herself alone in the bed, she sat up and quickly scanned the room.

"Kakashi?" she asked, feeling a little strange at not finding him. She cautiously slipped out of bed, taking the small box with her.

Just as she was about to call again, she heard someone fumbling with a key to open the door to their room. Tensely, the kunoichi readied herself just in case the visitor was hostile – and found herself keenly missing Kakashi's presence. She was still quite tired and, since her patients would need as much of her chakra as she could give, she really didn't want to have to use it in combat.

The door opened to reveal a smiling Copy Ninja bearing tea and pastries. Kakashi chuckled at her defensive stance and chose not to comment on it. Instead, he handed her a cup of tea and a bag with a couple of doughnuts. "'Morning," he greeted her.

She eyed him for a moment before accepting the tea and breakfast. "Good morning."

"I told them not to bother with breakfast today, so as soon as you're ready to go we can head out for the day... thought you might be anxious to go see those four patients..." Deftly, he lowered his mask to take a sip of his own hot beverage and start in on a pastry.

Sakura nodded thankfully, then sank back down onto the bed and dug into her breakfast. As she finished, she rose and stretched, and her eye fell once again on the little box.

Kakashi watched her with a little amusement and smiled when she picked up the box and looked at him inquiringly.

"Merry Christmas," he said. "Go ahead and open it."

She eyed him for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. They had been exchanging gifts on Christmas – Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and herself – for years and she was thrilled that he had thought enough about it to bring hers with him. Carefully, she tugged at the ribbon and opened the little box. Sakura gasped upon lifting a bit of tissue paper to find a beautiful silver arm band. It's design was elegant in its simplicity – several slightly raised flowers about the size of her pinky finger decorated a smooth polished surface. Upon realizing that she had been staring at the striking armband for far too long, Sakura hastily tore her eyes from the beautiful gift to catch Kakashi's eye.

"Oh, Kakashi! It's absolutely beautiful, thank you!"

He smiled and sat down on the bed next to her. Gingerly (for the legendary Copy Ninja suddenly found himself feeling unexpectedly awkward), he took the arm band from her and, after concentrating for just a moment, allowed a chakra-charged finger to touch one of the flowers. It slid aside revealing a shallow compartment behind it, large enough for some pills or a tightly folded slip of paper.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, not having imagined that the piece of silver had been anything more than a decoration.

He chuckled. "The flowers with six petals conceal hidden compartments, and the ones with four petals," he touched one of the other flowers, again with a little chakra, "are blades." As the flower popped free of its setting, Sakura could see that its edges were indeed sharp – good for a last ditch defense in very close combat.

Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his bare cheek. "Thank you! I'll treasure it always!"

Slightly surprised at her actions, Kakashi froze for a moment before pulling her a little closer to return her embrace. A part of him wanted to return the kiss too – chastely, of course – but he was unable to rationalize such a response. Instead, he let a grin slowly spread across his face, more than a little pleased at her positive reaction. "So long as you wear it," he said, "you can do whatever you like with it."

She blushed a little and smiled. "Of course I'll wear it, you silly old man! It's beautiful, but it's practical, too!" Sakura let him go and went back to examining the piece of jewelry, pressing here and there to open all of the compartments and check each of the blades.

He watched her, enjoying her obvious excitement over the gift.

After a couple moments, Sakura realized that she hadn't given Kakashi his present. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I almost forgot!" Reluctantly putting down her new toy, she hurried to her backpack and began to rummage through it, looking for the small parcel she had packed 'just in case.' Then, with a small cry of triumph, she pulled it out and handed it to Kakashi with a smile. "Merry Christmas!"

A curious Copy Ninja took the package from her and deftly removed the paper. Inside he found two unlabeled tubs of what appeared to be ointment and a thin little book. He glanced up to catch Sakura's eye in question and she smiled.

"You're a tough one to buy for, Kakashi – you already have pretty much everything you need. So it was really hard trying to find something to get you for Christmas – especially since I've already given you two really hard gifts to top."

He laughed, knowing she was right – although, to be fair, she was becoming just as hard to buy for since he had started his little stint as her 'secret admirer'. Kakashi had lucked out when checking in with his estate manager about Sakura's apartment several weeks previously. The old man had reminded him of the collection of kunoichi weapons stashed away in one of the bank vaults – the legacy of his grandmother. Nevertheless, Kakashi had no intention of revealing this to Sakura – knowing that the armband was a Hatake family heirloom would probably make her feel as though the gift was too personal and might deter her from openly using it.

"The ointment is a special experimental recipe," explained Sakura, "to be used only in dire situations. You're the first non-medic to be given some to use in the field. I've infused it with my chakra and it will greatly speed up the healing process. It can take _weeks_ to make enough for one small tube, never mind those tubs, so don't use it carelessly."

Surprised, he opened one of the tubs to take a look at the ointment. It looked normal enough, he thought, as he lowered a finger to graze the top of the gooey stuff – then, ever so slightly, the salve glowed as the chakra within it reacted to Kakashi's own. Greatly impressed, he closed the container, absently rubbing his still tingling fingertip. The ointment, he realized, could make the difference between returning and not returning from a mission – for her to give something like that to him spoke volumes of how much she cared. A small part of him wondered if she would also be giving similar stashes to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Wow," he said in a slightly awed tone. "Thank you very much, Sakura. I'll be sure to save it for absolute emergencies."

Finally pulling his attention back to his gifts, he looked back down at the little book she had also given to him. It was plain and completely unmarked – he could find no trace of a title or anything. Curious, he opened it (wondering about the possibility that it could have something to do with Icha Icha) and laughed – it contained homemade meal tickets. He flipped through them, noting that each ticket was for a different, though specific, meal. As he neared the end, he found a couple that caused him to raise his eyebrow a little.

Sakura laughed a little nervously. "I thought that, as well as the meals, I should also include a couple massages since you aren't particularly inclined to tell me when you need one. I thought that with the tickets you might be more likely to make use of my services – if for no other reason than not to seem ungrateful." Saying this, she stuck her tongue out at him and he couldn't help but laugh, knowing that she was right – he would use every single ticket simply because she had given them to him.

"Thank you again Sakura. I know I will use all of them." Kakashi snagged her wrist and pulled the kunoichi to him for a quick hug before letting her go with an even quicker kiss on her cheek.

She fought the flush that was threatening to creep across her cheeks and held out the arm band he had just given her, silently asking him to show her how the clasp worked.

With a smile he took the band from her, opened the catch and fastened it around the upper portion of her left arm. To his gratification, it fit as though it had been made for her.

Sakura turned her arm this way and that to examine the piece of functional jewelry and smiled. "It's perfect!"


	26. Chapter Twenty Six: Date Interrupted

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Okay between busy betas and my own work schedule it looks as though I might be updating on a monthly basis now. Just because I have the bulk of the rest of the fic written doesn't mean that it's anywhere near posting state. I'm nothing without my betas – ie they're really good at what they do! Many thanks guys! Loads of thanks to everyone who has been reviewing as well, I appreciate all your much too kind comments – they keep me going through the rough patches. :)

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six: Date Interrupted

Wearily, Sakura made her way to the hospital. She had returned from her mission to Rain two days prior and was still tired – she knew that she was probably not ready to return to her hospital duties. Unfortunately, she was too restless just hanging around her apartment and, the morning after they had returned, Kakashi had been sent out again for what would probably be a month or two. Much to her annoyance, she realized that, after having spent so much time with him, she missed his company more than she would ever want to admit. Absently, she entered the hospital and waved hello to the nurses at the reception desk, then wondered a little at the large grins they both sported when they caught sight of her. With a shrug, she continued on to her office.

Upon opening the door, she immediately noticed something out of place on her desk. Feeling an unexpected thrill of excitement, she eagerly approached to find several bottles tied together with a large ribbon. On the wide strip of fabric was a conspicuously placed seal that promised swift pain to anyone (other than Sakura) who touched the gift, clearly advertising the fact that either a skilled shinobi had left it or that her secret admirer had paid a highly skilled shinobi to create such a seal. As Sakura carefully removed the ribbon, she had to wonder if Kakashi was getting a little sloppy or if he was just deliberately trying to infuriate Naruto and Sasuke.

The pink haired medic gasped as she found that the collection of bottles included the body crème she used, as well as body wash, bubble bath, and a smaller bottle of perfume – all of subtly different, but still compatible, scents. Then, concealed beneath the ribbon, she found the usual scrap of paper:

_Patience is a virtue often rewarded... too bad you have none._

She groaned, realizing that Kakashi had probably been sitting on the expensive beauty products since his last mission to Grass a couple months previous, just before she had briefly moved in with him. And, from the looks of her desk, he had left the gift for her before they had gone out on their most recent mission together, thus ensuring that the whole village had had several weeks to speculate about it before she had even returned.

* * *

"Good to see you back Sakura. I take it everything went as planned? No surprises?" Tsunade asked as she flipped through a pile of scrolls on her desk, and tried to find one that didn't seem as though it would take her the whole afternoon to proof.

"Nope, went just as it was supposed to," came the reply. "Fairly boring really... but still rewarding to stamp out that epidemic once again."

"Ah, good, good." The blonde woman nodded absently before looking up at her former apprentice. Her eyes immediately fixed on Sakura's arm. "The boring-but-worthwhile ones can be the best kind of missions," she said.

"Yes, I suppose so… kind of nice not to have to fear for my life every day. Not that I really would have anyway, since Kakashi was around, but still…" she trailed off, wishing she hadn't mentioned the bit about Kakashi.

The blonde medic seemed to ignore her slip about her former sensei. Instead, the Hokage focused on Sakura's newest accessory. "That's a nice armband," she said with an undecipherable tone to her voice. "Is it new?"

Sakura's right hand automatically rose to caress the new accessory affectionately. "Oh! Thank you. Yes, it is. I got it for Christmas-"

"Kakashi gave it to you?" Tsunade interrupted, already fairly certain of the answer, but still looking for a confirmation from Sakura.

"Uh, yes. How did you guess?" For some strange reason, Sakura felt her cheeks tint a little at the Hokage's accurate deduction. Now that she was back in the village, a small part of her wondered a little at her former sensei giving her a piece of jewelry – functional and completely practical to be sure – but still jewelry nonetheless.

Tsunade chuckled a little, feeling gratified to have been correct in her assumption. She had recognized the armband, even though she had been a child when she had last seen it. Since Sakura seemed puzzled by her comment, the Hokage guessed that Kakashi hadn't told his former student that it had belonged to his grandmother. She also guessed that Kakashi had not been aware of the fact that she had known his grandmother quite well – and that all of her kunoichi tools, jewelry, weapons and the like, had actually been promised to Tsunade. The only reason the busty woman had never claimed the inheritance was that she hadn't been in the village when the older kunoichi had passed away and had most likely forfeited her rights to it when the whole estate had passed on to the Copy Ninja.

"Oh, just a guess... given that Naruto and Sasuke haven't returned yet. I figured it must have been him." She smiled at the younger woman and made a mental note to have a little discussion with the silver haired man about his intentions with his former student – the armband, depending on how Kakashi responded to her questions, could definitely be seen as crossing a line.

* * *

Kakashi stumbled past the gates, waving off the pair of guards before they could approach and offer him help. "No need to follow me, I'm on my way straight to her apartment," he grunted, his pride the only thing keeping him going. He'd be damned if he had to be helped to Sakura's residence; or even worse, be brought into the hospital and have her summoned there to him. He was already very late and couldn't even begin to imagine what his injuries would do to the repercussions of his tardiness.

It hadn't been a particularly difficult mission, but it had taken much longer than originally anticipated and as a consequence he had gotten impatient – not wanting to be _too_ late – and, accordingly, a little sloppy. Now, the Copy Ninja was paying for it by the means of several long but shallow gashes running the length of his torso, a fairly deep puncture in his upper thigh (courtesy of a large branch he had been unable to avoid) and a deep-set exhaustion that clued him into the fact that he had probably overused his Sharingan. Kakashi was close to collapse.

Silently, he cursed to himself as he limped his way steadily to Sakura's apartment. The pain seemed to increase with each step he took and he was freezing – a telling sign that he was either in shock or, much worse, he had a fever. Kakashi cringed from the idea that his body was fighting an infection; he had thought that he had done a good job of cleaning and bandaging his wounds. Regardless, something was much more serious than he had first thought.

At last her building entered his line of sight. He paused in the shadows for a moment; relief washed over him as he hadn't been sure he would make it much further. Quietly, he gathered the rest of his strength to make a final push to reach her apartment.

The sudden sound of feminine laughter caused him to freeze in place. The last thing he wanted was to be seen slinking into his former student's apartment building – especially in light of the most recent rumors circulating about the two of them. Letting her stay with him, even though it had been a brief stay and the reason more than valid, had started the local gossips speculating about the two of them and Kakashi had no intentions of causing Sakura any more trouble than he already had. Carefully, he faded back into the shadows to wait until the people were gone.

When the happy couple wandered into his sight, his jaw dropped – not only at how good Sakura looked but at who was with her.

The kunoichi was wearing a strappy short little black dress with a long beaded shawl pulled tight to keep the spring chill at bay. A distracted part of Kakashi was pleased to notice that she was wearing both the hair combs he had given her as well as the armband. However, the jonin's primary focus was upon her companion. He knew he had been gone for a long time but, still, he had never expected to see her with someone upon his return, never mind _him_.

* * *

Sakura laughed at her escort's half-hearted joke, enjoying herself against all reason. Though, she could have sworn she had already removed his hand from her rear. Determinedly, she shifted the wayward hand back up to her waist and shot him a warning look.

"You know, Genma, I really didn't want to go tonight," she said, smiling as she caught his eye, "but, I'm glad you insisted. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. And, I really _did_ need a nice evening out. Hanging around the hospital and overworking myself was accomplishing nothing."

He groaned theatrically. "_Now_ you finally see what I've been trying to tell you for the past few years!" His hand stealthily made its way back to her derriere. "You work too much. You deserve a nice evening out every once in a while for," his hand squeezed ever so slightly, "a little fun…"

She gasped in surprise as she pulled away from the brown haired man. "_Genma_! Really!" She raised her hand as if to slap him, pausing only because she really didn't want the evening to end with her beating him.

Genma hastily backpedaled, having forgotten for a moment just who he was with and under what circumstances. "Sorry, Sakura… My hands sometimes have a mind of their own…wandered a bit…"

She sighed. "I should have expected as much from the village's number one flirt. Even when he _promised_ at the beginning of the evening…"

"Sakura, that's not fair!" he interrupted, before she could point out his failing. Genma knew what he had promised her, but had hoped that during the course of the date he would be able to turn her head to him, if just a little. It still irked the notorious letch to no end that she had so blithely chosen his silver haired friend over himself for an imaginary night of fun. "I only wanted to take you out for a nice formal evening. _And_, you've already admitted that you're glad you came. Don't let one little slip ruin the evening." He carefully stepped closer to her, wanting to regain the proximity he had lost when she had backed away from him.

To his delight, she smiled and stepped a little closer to him. "Genma the evening is…"

Whatever Sakura had been about to say was lost as an exhausted and now angry Copy Ninja made his entrance. He had been waiting for Genma to leave before putting in an appearance – in fact, it had taken all of his will power not to try and jump in to break the letch's hand off of her rear. However, he had finally snapped. Kakashi knew his jealousy and anger were irrational since he had no relationship with the kunoichi other than that of former sensei and current friend. Nevertheless, knowing that did nothing to help him deal with the unreasonable feelings.

The pink haired medic was the first to react. "_Kakashi_! What happened to you?!" Sakura cried.

Completely ignoring the senbon wielding shinobi, Sakura quickly focused her attention on the injured man. Stretching up, she placed her hand on what she could reach of his forehead and did a cursory scan to get a general idea of his injuries. As soon as her fingers touched his bare skin he slumped visibly, crashing into her. She was only just able to keep herself on her feet as his full weight suddenly descended upon her. "_Shit_. He's out. Genma give me a hand with Kakashi, will you? I'll need help getting him up the stairs."

Genma sadly shook his head. He had really hoped that, with his friend out of the village for an extended period of time, he might finally have been given a chance to woo Sakura without interruptions. He had even thought that he had made some progress when she had agreed to allow him to accompany her to the formal medic's dinner in Kakashi's stead. But, he now realized it was foolish for him to have thought so.

Several fumbling and bumbling minutes later, the trio of shinobi was in the kunoichi's living room. Quickly, the medic unfolded the futon and gestured for Genma to deposit his cargo on the bed. Once he obliged, she got to work pulling unnecessary garments and soiled bandages from the injured man. Soon, Kakashi was left with only his mask, forehead protector and a pair of pants now minus their right leg to allow better access to all of his injuries.

Sakura was relieved that Kakashi hadn't received any truly serious injuries since he had first shown her his face because it was only sheer force of habit that had prevented her from removing his mask. She wasn't sure if Genma had seen Kakashi's face before – and she certainly didn't want to be the one to show him if he hadn't, never mind that she would also be letting on to others that their relationship was much closer than anyone probably suspected. She wasn't sure that that was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Genma watched in fascination as Sakura worked with the speed and efficiency possible only for an elite medic. She tsked at the extent of the Copy Ninja's injuries, then muttered darkly about an infection upon getting a better look at the angry looking puncture wound. Finally, she seemed to remember Genma's presence.

"Go to the kitchen, and bring me the medic kit by the balcony door… and a shirt from the box of clothing next to it, please?" she asked, as she started a chain of hand signs. "Oh, and the sealed white box from the cabinet next to the door as well."

"Right." Before complying with her request, Genma paused for a moment and watched as she began what he guessed would be a more complicated healing process aimed squarely on the deep wound in his friend's thigh. The puncture must be the worst injury of the lot, he thought to himself as he turned to do as she had asked.

When he returned, he found her still hunched over the now only slightly bleeding injury in Kakashi's thigh. Genma was surprised to see that the glow from her hands was that of a healthy, steady bluish-green. Knowing that Sakura would probably try to duck out of their date, he had ambushed her while she had been on her way home from a long and busy shift at the hospital, and he had seen then that she had been completely drained. The brown haired man figured that she was now using whatever chakra she had left, adrenaline pushing her to find more.

Once she sensed Genma's presence, Sakura stopped long enough to dig through the kit for a hypodermic, a vial of tetanus anti-toxin, some ointment and a lot of bandages. She knew that she didn't have enough chakra in her to completely heal Kakashi, but she wanted to at least try and get the infection under control and to get his surface wounds to the point where he couldn't easily reopen them. Upon finding what she wanted, she returned to healing the silver haired man without a glance at Genma or at the sealed, white box.

Almost gingerly, she removed Kakashi's forehead protector, knowing from past experience that there were three dangerous things to do to the Copy Ninja while he was unconscious. One was to remove his leaf headband; the other two were to remove his mask and to relieve him of his Icha Icha – both of which Naruto had tried and verified as foolhardy. Once the forehead protector had been removed, she shifted his hair out of the way and tightly bandaged his Sharingan – if something were to go accidentally wrong it would be harder for him to remove the bandage to gain access to his ace-in-the-hole. With one of the most dangerous aspects of her patient taken care of, she immediately drew up and administered the anti-toxin to prevent lockjaw. Then, Sakura set about dealing with Kakashi's fever and what was causing it: the infection he seemed to have picked up.

Genma felt at a loss – Sakura seemed to have completely forgotten that he was there. Uncertain of what else he could possibly do, he watched her. Then, when the steady glow from her hands began to flicker and her body waver, he reached out to grasp her shoulder. "Sakura, that's enough," he murmured. "He can do the rest on his own…"

She started at his light touch. Looking up at him, she noted the almost hidden concern in his usually playful eyes, and flushed slightly. "Oh… Yes, you're right. I'll just bind these wounds then." Carefully, she swabbed what remained of the gashes with some of her special ointment and bound them as tightly as she could. Once she finished, she surveyed her work, debating with herself over whether she should try and give Kakashi a plasma pill while he was unconscious… or, if it would be better to just wait for him to wake on his own and give it to him then…

Unable to stop herself, Sakura yawned, exhaustion finally hitting her as the adrenaline wore off. Her decision was made for her. She was too tired to try and force a pill down Kakashi's throat – he would just have to wait until morning. The young medic rose to her feet and turned to address the concerned Genma, only to find red and blue sparks suddenly flashing before her eyes as the world grew fuzzy and her legs gave out. Sakura hadn't realized just how much chakra she had used to deal with Kakashi's injuries.

Not particularly surprised, the brown haired man lunged to catch the suddenly fragile appearing kunoichi. Genma had seen it coming and had been ready. As carefully as he could, he picked her up and moved to her bedroom. He brought her to the bed, managed to move the covers aside with her still in his arms, and gently laid her down.

As he maneuvered Sakura into her bed her eyes fluttered partially open. "Genma…" she murmured, "kashi's got fever… needs t'be kept warm…" One of her hands weakly reached for the arm that was rearranging the blankets.

"All right sweetheart, just go to sleep and I'll see to it." Gently, he took her hand from his arm, urging her to give in to the sleep that he knew was trying so desperately to claim her.

"T'nks…" Satisfied that he would make sure Kakashi was adequately covered for the night, Sakura smiled sleepily at the senbon wielding man as her eyes finally slid shut.

Once he had settled her, Genma removed her shoes and jewelry – removing anything else would, he knew, earn him a truly spectacular punishment from the silver haired man currently sleeping on her futon.

Thus, though he was sorely tempted to do more, he allowed himself only to pull the covers over her to keep her warm. Before he left her side to take his leave, he took one last look at her – she appeared as peaceful and appealing as the first time he had come across her sleeping. He smiled and gently brushed a stray strand of her hair from her face before exiting her room, closing the door behind him.

Upon entering the living room once more, Genma found his friend still sleeping on the futon exactly as the pink haired medic had left him. Sighing to himself, he pulled the covers from under the slumbering man, found Sakura's dryer and tossed the blankets in for a quick dry cycle. While he was waiting for the blankets to heat, he went back to the living room and, after wrestling Kakashi into the shirt that still lay by the medic kit, did his best to rearrange him into a more comfortable position. When the dryer buzzed Genma pulled out the toasty blankets and positioned them over the unconscious Copy Ninja so that he would stay warm through the night.

"You're one very lucky man, Kakashi Hatake," he said with a surprisingly wistful tone to his voice, "whether you know it or not."

Feeling unnecessary, he finally made his way to the door and took his leave. All thoughts of eventually wooing the woman out from under his friend's nose were gone. She had clearly proved where her heart lay that evening and Genma wasn't one to try and stand in the way.

* * *

Sakura stretched and turned to roll over to sleep a little longer, only to find that her pajamas were pulling strangely on her torso. Sleepily, she cracked an eye to try and figure out what the problem was. Upon seeing that she wasn't sleeping in her usual night attire – rather, the little black dress Genma had given her – she sat up straight as she suddenly remembered what had happened the previous evening.

With a string of not-so-silent curses, she rushed from her room into her living area, hoping that Kakashi hadn't done something foolish during the night – such as taking it into his head to leave before he had been fully healed.

She paused in the doorway, then heaved a huge sigh of relief upon finding that he was still there. Carefully, she took in his appearance – he looked like death warmed over.

The silver haired man chuckled lightly at her rather dramatic entrance and was unable to prevent his eye from taking in her sleep disheveled appearance. He noticed that, even though she had obviously spent the night in the dress, she still looked fantastic in it. Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. She had been out with Genma the evening before, so… where was he? And, why was she still wearing that striking, little black dress? Wouldn't Genma have all too readily helped her out of it, even if there weren't going to be any bedroom activities? Kakashi couldn't quite get his mind to work properly in regard to what he figured he must have interrupted.

Not sure of what else to say, Sakura smiled and greeted her former sensei. "Good morning Kakashi… I'd ask if you were feeling better, but I don't think you will be for a couple days yet…"

"'Morning Sakura." He wanted to ask about her date with Genma, but managed to stop himself. Instead, he chose to comment on her appearance. "Love the new night attire. Get tired of cherries?" He felt moderately pleased to see her flush at his words.

"Ha, ha very funny, coming from the man who looks like one of Bull's chew-toys." She made her way to the futon and gingerly sat next to him.

To Kakashi's annoyance, she didn't elaborate on why she was still wearing the dress. Unsure how else to respond, he stayed silent. However, as she sat next to him he noted that she was wearing some of the perfume he had given her. As surreptitiously as he could, he inhaled the very light floral fragrance and smiled a little.

"Let's see how you're doing this morning," she said. "That infection was one nasty bit of business." Carefully, she pulled his mask down and laid her hand on his cheek, noting how with her touch his eye slid shut and a small sigh escaped him. A couple of moments later, she removed her hand – his condition was about what she had expected. There was only so much chakra could do to expedite the healing process which meant that, even with her help, it would take time for him to recover.

"Looks like you're stuck here for the next week or so." She sighed a little as she realized how much work he would be in his current state.

His eye opened quickly as he readied a protest.

"Ah, before you even think to complain, there's no way around it," she said, raising her finger to cut off his protests. "You're going to need someone to care for you for the next couple of days at the very least. That means either you stay here or you stay in the hospital… your choice."

He groaned in defeat and allowed his eye to close again. Kakashi knew that he really wasn't in any sort of shape to take care of himself… and, the more he thought about it, the nicer the idea of Sakura caring for him sounded.

Sakura chuckled. "I'll take that as you'll be staying here until you're better." She eyed him for a moment. "You up for a plasma pill?"

His eye re-opened to focus on her again. "Eh? Plasma pill? You have those here?" he asked, feeling a little surprised that she had such precious pills on hand in her personal residence.

Sakura laughed and, reaching for the little white box she had asked Genma to retrieve for her the night before, placed it on her lap. "You'd be surprised at what I'm allowed to keep on hand."

He watched with some interest as she unsealed and rummaged through the box, noting that it contained several restricted substances and a handful of dangerous drugs. "I guess so…" he murmured, more than a little impressed.

She pulled out the right bottle and carefully removed a pill. "Mostly because of you, you know." Deftly, she replaced the bottle and resealed the box. "I'll be right back – you'll want some water after you take this… I know you must be very dehydrated from the blood loss and fever."

Hastily, she went to the kitchen and filled a pitcher and a glass with water before returning to her patient. Kakashi had made an effort to raise himself into a sitting position while she was away. Sakura gave him the pill and motioned for him to take it before setting the pitcher of water on the end table next to the futon.

Weakly, he took the pill and managed to chew it a couple times before swallowing. When he reached for the water, Sakura made sure that he held it in both hands. Even so, the glass shook slightly, and she wrapped her own hands around his to help him drink from it. After he had slowly finished the whole glass, she took it from him, filled it halfway and set it within easy reach.

Kakashi sighed and, with a couple grunts of pain, tried to slouch down a bit into a more comfortable position. Already, he could feel the pill going to work, helping his body replace the blood he had lost and, in the process, sapping what little strength and energy he had recovered.

With a grimace of sympathy pain, Sakura helped ease him back down onto the pillows. "While that's doing its job I want to take another look at that leg of yours…"

Not waiting for a response from her patient, she shifted the blankets aside and removed the now soiled bandage. Unfortunately, the wound didn't look much better than it had the previous evening; she resisted the urge to slap him in the hopes that some sense might penetrate his thick skull with the aid of a sharp blow to his head. Instead, she sighed and set about doing what she could with the little chakra she had managed to recuperate. Sakura could tell that he hadn't used the ointment she had given to him and it hurt her that he had apparently thought so little of her gift.

The medic started upon feeling Kakashi's hand persistently brushing against her thigh – if he had been Genma, she would have had to curb the desire to break the appendage trying to grope her. Surprised, she turned to see him staring at her groggily.

"That's enough, you're fading fast." He chuckled softly. "You'll be lying next to me in a couple minutes if you keep going… well, more like across my legs really…"

She flushed a little and, in her exhausted state, snapped without thinking, the fact that he hadn't used her ointment having upset her more than she had initially realized. "Well, I wouldn't be in this position if you weren't so foolish as to allow this…" she poked the still very angry looking puncture wound, knowing it would hurt, "to get infected… you stupid, stupid, _stupid_ man."

He grunted in pain, but made no attempt to try and defend himself, in spite of feeling a little surprised and taken aback at both her words and actions. Kakashi couldn't imagine what had gotten into her or why she was suddenly so upset with him.

Sakura could tell he had no idea what she was talking about and decided to elaborate. "You didn't use the ointment I gave you for Christmas, did you?"

Kakashi didn't respond. The truth was that he hadn't thought the puncture wound was all that serious at the time, and he hadn't wanted to waste the precious salve after she had told him to use it for emergencies only.

The medic stared at him, her anger building. "If you _had _used it, you wouldn't be nearly as badly off as you are now. Did you even have it with you?" She paused for only a fraction of a moment before continuing. "No, don't answer that… I don't want to know…" Sakura sighed, trying not to be angry with Kakashi, and failing miserably. "Just because you have me here to take care of you, doesn't mean that I want you to come back from every mission in need of my aid."

Unsure where it was all coming from, he continued to stare at her, feeling bewildered.

"Damn it Kakashi! I'm not always going to be here, you know. And, I want you to _come back_ from all your missions! If you had ignored that infection…" she trailed off, starting to get visibly upset. "I mean, really, what were you thinking?"

"I was late." Finally catching on to just why she was so upset, Kakashi decided to try and respond – to try and placate her with words as best he could, though he really would rather have used actions. The desire to pull her into his arms was strong, but not as strong as the sense that it was probably inappropriate considering he had come across her with Genma the evening before.

"That was a rhetorical…" Sakura blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I made a promise and I was late. I can see now it didn't matter, but at the time… I thought it might make a difference." Kakashi averted his gaze, having not meant to say quite as much as he had.

Wide-eyed, she stared at him. "_What_?"

The Copy Ninja shifted a little uncomfortably under her stare and decided to change the subject slightly. "Where's Genma? I should think he would have gotten up by now…"

"What does Genma have to do…" The younger woman stopped and stared at him in disbelief, realizing what he must have thought. Suddenly even angrier, she rose from her seat, turned and stepped away, trying to regain control of her temper.

After silently counting to ten enough times to have counted to two-hundred, Sakura turned back to him. She heaved a huge sigh. "Just go back to sleep Kakashi. We'll… discuss it when you wake up and after I've had a shower and breakfast."

Judging from how angry she had gotten – and how long it had taken her to calm down – he decided that, in his current state, it would be a good idea to do as she said. Besides, he rationalized to himself, the pill she had given him was really taking a toll on him and it was starting to become difficult to keep his eye open.

As he drifted off to sleep, he heard her muttering to herself, "stupid, foolish, moronic, imbecilic man…" while she re-bandaged his thigh, and he couldn't help smiling slightly – she had really been worried. The smile then faded as he realized that she had neatly dodged his question about Genma.

Sakura watched as a small smile spread across his lips and suppressed the urge to wipe it from his face – though, it faded quickly enough on its own. Once she was sure he was out, she quickly took a shower and had breakfast – checking often on the sleeping Kakashi.

After taking care of the minor necessities, she checked on her former sensei again – making sure he would stay asleep until she got back – and hurried off to report to Tsunade. She would need to have her schedule rearranged at the hospital in order to free up enough time to take proper care of Kakashi.

* * *

By the time Sakura returned, permission for schedule rearrangement having been grudgingly granted (she had had to play a card she didn't like playing, that of the sulky researcher), she found Kakashi just as she had left him, with the exception that his eye was open and he had finished the entire pitcher of water.

She studied him almost suspiciously. It was too good to be true for him to have had a chance to bolt, and yet not have taken it.

"You're looking marginally better," she greeted him, still wondering why he hadn't tried to make an exit.

He smiled a little. "I wish I could say the same for you… I think I preferred that little black dress."

"Say what you will about Genma, but the letch _does_ have good taste in women's clothing…" She blushed a bit as she suddenly remembered the little nurse's uniform he had given to her. "Well, most of the time anyway."

He frowned, realizing that the dress she had worn the night before had been the one that Genma had given to her for her birthday. With that reminder, he decided to try and pick up with the conversation she had dodged earlier. "I do believe you promised me a conversation involving Genma when I woke up?"

Her eyes widened in surprise and she couldn't help but laugh. "So _that's_ why you're still here… I was wondering how I had managed to keep you…" she trailed off thoughtfully.

He smirked. "You're just lucky… I'm not easily kept."

She sighed and shook her head. "Okay, let me get you some more water first… and I think perhaps some eggs or maybe rice porridge…"

"You're stalling."

"And, _you're_ probably starving." She chuckled and, with a raised eyebrow, challenged him to prove her wrong.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, at which she nodded. Then, satisfied that he knew she was right, she headed off to the kitchen, taking the pitcher with her.

When she returned with his breakfast and the full pitcher, she eyed him calculatingly before giving in and asking, "Can you eat on your own?"

"Sakura…" The look he shot her could have withered flowers at twenty paces.

"What? You're still weak – it's a perfectly valid question to ask."

He held out his hand for one of the dishes and she handed him the eggs along with a pair of chopsticks. With a little less than his usual grace, he was able to maneuver all the eggs from the plate and into his mouth.

Sensing that he might be thirsty after the eggs, she poured him a glass of water and again helped him hold it – the glass was much heavier than the eggs and she could tell that he would have problems with it. As she helped him drink, Sakura assessed that it would probably be a day or two before she would really have to worry about him deciding he had had enough of her care. At the moment, he was just too weak to manage very well on his own and he was smart enough to realize it. When Kakashi was done with the water, she carefully handed him the bowl of porridge and a spoon and watched as he slowly but steadily finished it.

With a sigh of contentment, the Copy Ninja let Sakura take the bowl away from him and shifted himself into a more slouched position. With some surprise Kakashi realized that if he wasn't so irked with both himself and Sakura about her apparent date with Genma, he might actually enjoy having the pink haired medic caring for him.

After depositing the dirty dishes to the kitchen, Sakura returned and studied him from the corner of her eye – she could sense that he was starting to get impatient, but just wasn't sure where to begin without getting annoyed with Kakashi all over again. While she contemplated her starting point, she automatically returned to his side, shifted the blankets and pushed up his shirt a little to check his injuries. Before she could settle on an approach not likely to lead to annoyance on her part, he beat her to the punch – and thus managed to irritate her all over again.

"What happened with dating responsibly?" he asked, getting to the heart of what he thought the matter was.

"Eh?" She glanced up from the wounds she was examining on his chest, momentarily thrown from her own train of thought as she tried to figure out Kakashi's somewhat cryptic statement.

"Genma, your date with him… It's likely to earn him a sound beating from Naruto and Sasuke once they hear about it." Kakashi explained.

Annoyed once again at his assumption, Sakura answered evasively, just to needle him. "Genma's a big boy, he can take it…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, wondering at her apparent change of heart. The last he had known, she didn't appreciate his friend's advances.

"Besides…" she said, shrugging, "Naruto and Sasuke gave their blessing." Sakura was having a tougher time keeping a straight face than she had originally anticipated – the appalled expression that had taken up residence on Kakashi's face almost shattered her thin veil of nonchalance.

"They did _what_?" the silver haired man exclaimed with some surprise.

"Actually it was Naruto's idea… Well, at least that's what Naruto thinks… You have to give Genma credit on that one – he set the whole thing up beautifully." Deftly, she re-bandaged his chest, satisfied that it was now healing properly.

"What did he do?" Kakashi asked, with a new appreciation for Genma's apparent skill.

She gestured for him to shift a little so she could take another look at his leg, and he obliged without hesitation, knowing she wouldn't continue with her story unless he behaved and played the part of a good patient.

"He waited until I was at the pub with Naruto and Sasuke," she answered, "and then casually brought up the dinner… I guess it all snowballed nicely for him from there…" She trailed off, even though Kakashi was obviously waiting for her to keep going.

The elite jonin sat in silence and waited. If he prompted her it would only take _longer_ for her to tell him the story when she was in such a mood.

After a couple moments, she decided that she had made him stew long enough and continued. "By the end of the conversation, Genma had convinced Naruto that I absolutely _must_ attend the dinner. Thing is, of course, I told them I had planned on taking you along, but that you wouldn't make it back in time…" She shrugged, again deciding to make Kakashi wait to hear the details she knew he was just dying to learn. Absently, she poked a little at his puncture and frowned – it didn't look much better than it had earlier. With a sigh, she realized she would be investing some serious chakra in getting it to heal properly.

Kakashi gritted his teeth, knowing that she was intentionally dragging the story out.

"So… I told them that because _you_ weren't going to be here to take me, I figured I just wouldn't attend since I wanted nothing to do with going alone. Easy enough, right? So I explained it all to them, making sure they understood that attending on my own wasn't an option when they objected… Walked right into it, I'm afraid. And, of course, Naruto being Naruto volunteered to take me in your stead. At least, he did until Sasuke reminded him that they had a mission..." Once again, she trailed off as if in thought, but actually enjoying making Kakashi squirm just a little.

By now, the Copy Ninja was twitching at the slow pace she had set, but he knew better than to try and rush her.

"I guess it was at that point that Genma made a comment about how hard it would be for me to find a replacement at such short notice, especially since the guy would have to be dumb, suicidal, or both to actually try to date me with Naruto and Sasuke around… It was then that a tipsy Naruto brilliantly thought that Genma – with some very strong promises and threats, of course – would make an acceptable stand-in for my date."

Kakashi stared at her for a few moments, digesting what she had just said. He had to agree that Genma had rather masterfully set up the whole thing. A small part of Kakashi had a hard time with the fact that his senbon wielding friend had put so much effort into getting a date with Sakura, especially when the letch had his rather stormy on-again-off-again relationship with Ino… No, he corrected himself – he had a hard time with it because he had thought that Genma had already painfully learned his lesson in regard to pursuing Sakura. He couldn't believe that his friend had successfully gone behind his back to start a relationship with his former student.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the incredulous man and answered the unasked question that she knew was lingering on the tip of the Copy Ninja's tongue. "Genma left after putting me to bed last night," she said.

"Oh…" he trailed off, obviously surprised – and inwardly relieved. He'd known Genma for a very long time, and he wouldn't have been surprised if the ingenious jonin had found a way to spend the night, preferably in Sakura's bed. However, as much as he wanted to put voice to his doubts, he knew that to do so would earn him swift punishment from Sakura regardless of his own current injuries. Instead, he decided to broach the other subject he felt was looming in the room like a giant elephant between them. "So... you're not upset with me for being late and breaking my end of our deal then?"

She eyed him, wanting to be at least a little angry. Then, finding that she couldn't, she sighed. "You came back, Kakashi. That's really all that matters. Besides, it wasn't all that fair of me to expect you to take me after you got that mission… _especially_ since you got it right after going with me to stomp out that epidemic again. You didn't even get a full day off in-between."

He shrugged, apparently unconcerned about the lack of rest he had gotten between missions. "Such is the life of a shinobi, Sakura."

"Yeah, I guess… but, you didn't even have to come with me in the first place, you know…" She paused for a moment as an important question she hadn't thought to ask occurred to her. "Why _did_ you come with me? You'd just come back from an ANBU assignment after a long string of back-to-backs… There was no real reason for you to accept..."

He smiled and stopped himself from reaching out to her, even though a part of him longed to do so. "Because you asked."

"But I didn't…" She knit her brows in confusion, remembering very well how reluctant she had been to actually ask Kakashi to accompany her on that mission.

"You were going to, weren't you?" he interrupted her carefully.

Sakura felt her cheeks heat a little. "Well… I-I don't know I…"

"Are you telling me you would have rather gone with Genma?" he asked, with a little bit of a teasing tone in his voice.

"Hell no!" She shook her head emphatically.

Kakashi laughed and nodded his head. "All right then. I didn't think so… and, I wasn't about to let that happen anyway." He smiled at her surprise.

"Oh…" Her eyes widened a little as what he had said sank in. "_Oh_…"

Suddenly realizing what he had just admitted to her, he hastily came up with something to distract her. "So, I suppose you aren't going to continue feeding me now that our deal is off?" he asked, the clear hope that he was wrong in his voice.

"Kakashi!" Sakura cuffed his shoulder lightly, letting the important piece of information she had just learned slip through her fingertips as he chuckled at her.

Then, quickly, before Kakashi could ask any other questions or distract her, she started a string of hand seals to start working once again on his infection. She knew that he wouldn't disturb her when she was concentrating on healing him, and… she had a lot to think about.


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven:Confession & Denial

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Many thanks to my betas – you guys know I'm nothing without your help! :) Also, tons of thanks to those who are still reading! I know I've gotten more and more erratic with my posting schedule since I moved (almost a year ago now – eep!) so thanks for sticking with me! I'd be lying if I tried to give an estimate for the next chapter so I won't – sorry. :( On a happier note I know there will definitely be a total of 34 chapters so the end is within sight. :D

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confession and Denial

As she entered her apartment, Sakura took a small parcel from her bag before dropping the bag just inside her doorway. "Kakashi? You still here?" she called. Although the elite jonin still wasn't quite up to escape strength yet, she was unsure if he realized that – he'd been with her for just shy of a week, but was healing much more slowly than she would have liked to see. Absently, she had to chalk it up to the fact that he wasn't quite as young as most of her regular patients.

As it turned out, Kakashi was lounging on her couch, dressed in a pair of his usual loose fitting pants and jonin shirt, having given up wearing his undershirt and mask while in her apartment. He waved and glanced up from one of his smutty little novels. "Yo."

"Ah good, you're still here and awake. I was checking on a couple things in your file and found that you haven't had any of your shots in _ages_… So, since I have you here now, there are a few that are absolutely necessary for you to get." She waved the package she was holding at him. "There are a lot of new inoculations that can easily prevent some nasty diseases... I'd rather not have to waste time and effort healing you after you've gotten something that could easily have been prevented." She fixed him with a determined look.

He stared at her for a moment, calculating what his chances were of refusing treatment. However, no matter how he figured the equation, she won in the end. With a sigh of resignation, he pulled off his shirt and presented an arm.

She giggled a little, not quite feeling bad for what she would have to tell him. "Sorry, no. Not for these… not there…" She gestured for him to flip.

His eye widened in surprise and he visibly recoiled from her as he remembered a couple stories from the other shinobi about some of the more recent inoculations and the possible painful after-effects.

"Now, Sakura…" he said, using his strictest 'sensei' voice.

She paid him no mind and gestured again. "Kakashi, roll over."

Starting to get a little desperate, he reached for anything to delay what he thought was probably the inevitable. "I'm not a dog, Sakura," he grumbled.

She giggled again, amused with the expression on his face. "I'll give you a cookie..."

"_Sakura_."

The medic laughed and advanced on him, not missing the bit of panic in his exposed eye. She knew that he would be difficult no matter what she said or did. Stopping just shy of her target, she glared at him as he stared back, ready to dodge any of her advances.

Once her patience wore thin, she couldn't help but throw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Oh, for crying out loud Kakashi, you're going to need these. Stop stalling! I don't want to actually hurt you!" she exclaimed.

He continued to eye her suspiciously and she huffed in annoyance. "Kakashi! Really, I'm just going to give you a couple shots, for your own good."

He pouted a little. "Of course _you_ would say that. It's not _your_ rear that you will be injecting."

She sighed. "Seriously, Kakashi, it won't be all that bad. I'll make it quick... Come on, it _is_ for your own good, you _know_ this."

He frowned, wondering just how long it would be before he would regain the ability to sit properly after receiving who knew how many injections in his rear.

"What?" she asked, feeling a bit self-conscious under his stare. "What else do you want from me? I don't see what I could possibly do to make it better... A shot is a shot…" He continued to stare and she couldn't help but babble on a little. "What, do you want me to kiss it to make it better?" She fought hard not to blush, having not intended to put voice to that particular thought.

He chuckled at her embarrassment; then, a mischievous light entered his eye as he remembered something she had in her closet. In his near desperate state, he decided to make an unreasonable demand. "If you wore that little white nurse's outfit you have in your closet I might feel compelled to cooperate."

Surprised, she stepped back as her eyes widened and a slow blush crept across her face. "_What_?"

"The nurse's uniform... wear it and I'll be a good patient for you." He smirked, feeling sure that she wouldn't agree and would instead withdraw, frustrated. Then, as she stared at him for a couple moments, he began to worry that she might actually be contemplating his frivolous demand.

"So, if I wear the nurse's uniform, you'll cooperate?" she asked cautiously.

Kakashi swallowed, thinking that she had to be bluffing. "Yes."

She studied him again, weighing the positives and the negatives of the offer. If all it would take to get him to cooperate with her would be a wardrobe change... "Fine," said Sakura. "I'll wear the uniform, and _you'll_ cooperate and let me give you your shots." Before she lost her nerve, she turned to go change. If she remembered correctly, the uniform wasn't all _that_ bad. Some professional nurses did wear it, after all. And, if it would get him to stay still long enough it wasn't too big of a sacrifice on her part. It wasn't as though anyone other than Kakashi would see her and, besides, she couldn't let him think that all he had to do was suggest she change her apparel to get her to back off from forcing him to accept necessary medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Kakashi sat speechless on the couch, not quite believing that Sakura had gone to her bedroom to change into an outfit sexy enough to have been taken right from the pages of his precious Icha Icha. Never in his recent fantasies – which of late, seemed to feature only the pink haired medic – had he ever thought that she would actually wear the little nurse's uniform for him, never mind treat him while wearing it.

Sakura returned a couple moments later, and Kakashi had a hard time not staring – he also found himself missing the presence of his mask as it was taking _all _of his self-control to prevent a nosebleed. The Copy Ninja was even more annoyed with himself to realize that it wasn't the _uniform_ that was causing his difficulties – he had seen it many times over in various Icha Icha novels, after all. Oh no, it was the fact that _Sakura_ was the one wearing it...

"Okay Kakashi, you've got your wish," said Sakura. She could see that he was having some trouble and couldn't quite feel bad for him. He had, after all, brought it upon himself as far as she was concerned. Just to make it clear to the older man that she was okay with her attire, she did a little twirl, so he could see the entire outfit. "Now, let me prep those shots and we can get started." Then, she smiled sweetly and busied herself with the package, her back to him.

Kakashi slowly began to pull himself together as he watched her un-wrap the parcel and start to sort through the bottles and needles. After a moment of observing her, he realized just how many needles and bottles she had taken out of her packet, and he started to worry about just how sore his rear was likely to become with the amount of injections she apparently intended to give him.

As much as he was enjoying her in the outfit, he was beginning to regret having made a deal with her. All too quickly for his liking, she turned to him with a smile.

"All set Kakashi? This should only take a couple moments." Saying this, Sakura advanced once again and, knowing that he was still fairly weak and unable to put weight on his leg for any length of time, easily managed to push him down on the couch and flip him over.

A couple seconds later, he felt her fingers curl around the waistband of his pants and he had a hard time forcing himself not to move. Nevertheless, he was unable to prevent himself from flinching as she pulled gently at his pants and his control over certain bodily functions mostly deserted him.

"_Kakashi_! You promised!" she admonished as she leaned in and placed a knee on the couch next to him in hopes of keeping him still – a moving target was never a good thing when trying to give an injection and his fidgeting was not helping her. "The more you fight it the harder it will be for you! Now stay still…"

Her voice trailed off and she glanced up as she heard someone enter the apartment through her front door. Hastily, she looked down at her position – leaning over Kakashi with one hand on the waistband of his pants and a pile of hypodermics within easy reach, not to mention the fact that she was also wearing the little white nurse's uniform... No matter how she looked at it, the situation would require serious explaining to an outside viewer.

Kakashi froze and cursed silently as he realized that he wasn't wearing his mask. Unfortunately, knowing that Sakura was leaning over him with her knee bumping against his waist wearing the beyond inappropriately attractive uniform, he was having enough trouble regaining his sense of self-control, never mind actual thought.

Quickly, Sakura turned to face the entrance and felt her cheeks heat at seeing Sasuke and Genma standing in the doorway staring. Hastily, she removed her knee from the couch and seated herself on Kakashi's back. Then, remembering at the last minute that the Copy Ninja wasn't wearing his mask she crossed her legs just in front of his face.

"Genma, Sasuke! Good to see you." She managed to smile at her visitors. "Here to see Kakashi I'm guessing?"

Despite the promise of immediate retribution standing right next to him, Genma whistled. "_Damn_ Sakura! I knew you'd look good in that outfit, but I didn't know just _how_ good..."

Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes at the older man "_You_ gave her that?"

Realizing his mistake, Genma quickly back-pedaled in an effort to get himself out of a potentially tricky spot. "Oh, hey! Aren't you more concerned as to _why_ she's wearing it, instead of where she got it from?"

Before things could get ugly, Sakura decided to try and derail the two men. "Why don't you two go into the kitchen and make some tea?" she suggested. Then, she eyed them and amended her statement. "Or, open a couple beers. I've only _just_ been able to corner Kakashi into getting a couple of long overdue shots – don't you even _think_ about interrupting again." She glared at the two visitors, hoping they would buy her hastily cobbled together story. She quickly added a threat to give them incentive enough to leave the matter alone. "Unless, of course, you'd like to join him?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but closed it upon taking another look at the vials lined up on Sakura's coffee table. Some of the labels were familiar – painfully familiar, in fact.

Knowing that he wouldn't win if he protested, the Uchiha turned to do as Sakura suggested. After all, he could always try and corner the kunoichi later (when she didn't have any hypodermics handy) and get to the bottom of just what they had interrupted – though, Sasuke suspected he already knew. "Hn. Come on Genma," he said. "Sakura usually has a good selection of drinks."

When the letch didn't move, the younger man sighed and bodily pulled him from the room. Genma reluctantly complied, but not without giving the medic a final appraising look. This did not go unnoticed by Sasuke – however, he decided against saying anything since he himself had to wonder more than a little at Sakura's choice of attire.

The kunoichi let out a huge sigh of relief and rose from her awkward seat. Unfortunately, owing to certain 'difficulties' he was just starting to get under control, Kakashi could not take advantage of this chance to roll over onto his back. Turning his head, he looked up at her with a certain concentrated wariness clearly visible on his bare face.

"Alright, Kakashi," said Sakura. "Let's get this over with, shall we? Once you've had your shots you can go play with your visitors..." she trailed off as she realized that Genma might be in for a rough time at the hands of the Copy Ninja "So long as you promise to play nice," she added with a slight hint of warning to her voice.

He grunted and she took that as an affirmation. Briskly, she returned to her former position and reached once again for the waistband of his pants.

While Sakura had been convincing the two visitors to go into the other room, Kakashi had been once again having second thoughts about the shots. "Now Sakura," he interjected. "Don't you think that perhaps there might be a couple of those that are… unnecessary?"

She looked down at him and blinked in surprise. "What? Of course not, they're all vital…" She paused, finally catching on that he thought she was going to give him all of them at once, and laughed.

"It's hardly a laughing matter Sakura." he said rather stiffly, thinking of the soreness he would have in his posterior after receiving so many shots – and of just how long it would take for him to live it down, although… the fact that Sakura was administering the shots dressed in the sexy nurse's uniform would probably offset quite a bit of the ribbing he was likely to endure at the hands of Genma. As Kakashi thought about it, he realized that the local letch would probably be smart enough not to bring it up unless someone else commented on it first.

"Oh no, Kakashi… You thought I was going to give you all of these _now_, didn't you?" Sakura failed to keep the mirth from her voice.

He nodded slowly, beginning to suspect that he might have been under the wrong impression.

She laughed again. "Definitely not! I can't give you more than two or three at a time – unfortunately, the ones I wanted were at the bottom of the package, so I had to pull them all out to get to them…" she explained. "I will be giving you all of these, but over the course of several weeks or so, depending on mission assignments."

He studied her for a moment before exhaling in relief. "Oh."

Sakura smirked a little, unable to help herself. "'Oh', is right. Now, hold still and I'll give you the shots quickly so you can go socialize… No beers for you though, not after getting these."

Still a little reluctantly, he ceased moving and managed to prevent himself from flinching away from her light touch as she carefully pulled the waistband of his pants and underwear down far enough to allow her to quickly disinfect a small area and administer the shots. Without thinking, she then gently ran her hand over the injection sites, allowing a little chakra to leak in and alleviate some of the worst of the soreness he would be feeling momentarily – the medic's equivalent of kissing something to make it better. Once she realized what she was doing, however, Sakura hastily pulled her hand away and fought a blush.

With a deep breath, she pulled herself together. "Okay Kakashi, all set. You can go and play with your friends now."

Carefully, the jonin shifted himself into a sitting position, wincing as his now sore rear came into contact with the couch. "Thanks Sakura..." he said, knowing that she had done what she could to prevent the worst of it. He eyed her again and opened his mouth to tell her that she should probably change out of the uniform, but the words stuck in his throat. He had realized that was no way to mention it to her without coming across as hypocritical, especially since he had been the one to suggest she wear it in the first place.

"You're welcome," Sakura answered as, absently, she handed him his shirt and a spare mask. "Think I'll start some laundry and leave you be with Sasuke and Genma... er, try to make sure Sasuke doesn't hurt Genma too badly, will you?"

Kakashi nodded and smiled a little before donning his shirt and mask; then, he limped slowly and stiffly from the room. The Copy Ninja sighed in frustration at his leg muscles' refusal to cooperate and wished that the wound in his thigh would mend already –the slow healing process was an unwanted reminder that he was getting older.

Once he had taken his leave, Sakura replaced the vials of vaccine in their case, unable to help giggling a little as she did so. Then, she headed to her bedroom to gather her laundry – and to conveniently avoid having to see Genma and Sasuke again dressed as she was. There was just no way she could change out of the uniform now without either of them suspecting something, so she was stuck wearing it until they should decide to leave.

As Sakura sorted her laundry, she wondered if she should order out – there was no way of telling how long Genma and Sasuke would stay, and she wasn't about to blow her cooking cover any more than she already had. One man scrounging around her apartment for leftovers when she wasn't home was more than enough for her.

Just as the medic was starting the first wash cycle, she sensed someone approaching from behind. Silently, she groaned as she realized it was Sasuke although, granted, given her current attire, she would rather deal one-on-one with him than with Genma.

Sakura turned. "Oh, hi Sasuke," she said, smiling despite feeling a bit odd under his obvious scrutiny. She could tell that he was definitely interested in why she had chosen to wear the Icha Icha uniform to treat their former sensei, but that he was also having a hard time figuring out how to bring it up without pissing her off. Tact was something that Sasuke, thankfully, had managed to pick up over the years – it served as a much needed balance to Naruto's seeming inability to remember even the most basic social niceties. Finally, he gave up and just went for it.

"What _are_ you wearing?" he asked, still studying the uniform with obvious confusion.

Getting a bit defensive, she huffed. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with what I'm wearing."

"No, no... I didn't say that..." answered Sasuke, doing his best to keep his tone neutral. "I was just wondering why you were wearing it to treat Kakashi."

"Oh, that." Sakura waved her hand dismissively and went back to sorting her laundry, hoping that the Uchiha would let it drop.

Sasuke waited; when she didn't answer, he prompted her, "Well?"

A part of her wanted to tell him about the deal with Kakashi, but she knew that it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Instead, she shrugged and said, "Haven't done laundry for a while and didn't realize how low on clothing I was until this evening after my shift. You'd be surprised at how quickly a medic goes through clean clothes…" She gazed at him evenly, really hoping that he would buy the fib – if it had been Naruto, he would have tried to check, but Sasuke was a bit more of a prude and not liable to try and verify her statement. However, when he didn't respond Sakura decided to add something to make it more believable. "It's not like I was expecting company tonight or anything," she said then. "Just Kakashi. And, it's not like he would cause any trouble over it." Hastily, she bit her tongue in the hopes that he would accept her story and leave her alone. To her relief, the Uchiha nodded.

Unable to find fault with her explanation, Sasuke accepted it as the truth. Still, his eyes narrowed momentarily as he considered what she had said – a small part of him had to wonder just what sort of an evening Sakura had planned to have with Kakashi while wearing the sexy little uniform. As much as he wanted to dismiss such thoughts from his mind as nonsense, he found himself unable to in light of both Sakura and Kakashi's recent behavior, and he couldn't quite figure out how he felt about it.

* * *

With a barely noticeable bounce to his step, Kakashi made his way to Tsunade's office – he had finally been cleared for active duty and already had an urgent mission waiting for him. All in all, he hadn't minded being grounded so long as he was living with Sakura. But, once he had returned to his own apartment, and she had gone back to her regular shifts at the hospital, he had grown bored rather quickly.

When he entered the Hokage's office, he was slightly surprised to see that Sakura's desk was unoccupied. Given the time of day, he had expected the kunoichi to be there as always buried under a miniature mountain of paperwork.

Tsunade smiled as she noticed Kakashi's gaze shift to the empty desk before coming to a rest on herself. "She's not here today," she said. "Her presence was requested... elsewhere. She _should_ have gone a week or two ago, but I had to wait for her workload to lighten before I could send her..." She raised an eyebrow meaningfully, clearly implying that he was the reason Sakura had been held up.

Knowing that the Hokage was not going to elaborate if he asked, Kakashi didn't respond, he didn't want to give her the satisfaction regardless of how frustrated he felt. He wanted to know where Sakura had gone, why, and of course, with whom. Then again, given enough time there were always ways of subtly finding out, ways that usually involved copious amounts of alcohol and a few probing questions…

Tsunade waited for a moment, knowing that the jonin wanted to ask questions – when he didn't, she was fairly impressed. With a self-satisfied smirk, she tossed a mission scroll to the silver haired man.

"The family of a local city official has been kidnapped," she said. "And, unfortunately, all of the kidnappers were killed during a botched exchange _before_ they could reveal the location of the captives."

Kakashi simply nodded – he'd handled similar cases before. Quickly, he scanned the contents of the scroll to see if he had any questions. Finding he had none, he inclined his head at the busty blonde woman and turned to take his leave.

"A moment, Kakashi," she called, with a deceptively off-hand voice.

He halted in his tracks, then slowly turned to face her again. Kakashi knew that particular tone of voice and, though he was clueless as to what he could possibly have done to invoke Tsunade's ire, he nonetheless dreaded what she would have to say.

"Ah, there was a little matter I wanted to discuss with you."

"Oh?" he asked carefully.

"Hmm, yes."

As she spoke, Tsunade nodded and smiled sweetly – too sweetly, thought Kakashi, who was instantly wary of what was going to come next.

"That's one lovely armband Sakura's been wearing…" she then added. "You don't happen to know where it came from, do you?"

The Copy Ninja narrowed his eye – he had not been expecting the Hokage to bring _that_ up. Nevertheless, instead of trying to dodge the question, he decided to play it straight with her… or rather, as straight as he dared. "I suspect you already know if you're asking me about it."

The older woman chuckled. "Thought it looked familiar… Your grandmother was quite the kunoichi in her time, I learned a lot from her." She cleared her throat and her voice took on a more serious tone. "Do you intend to give your medic the whole set?" she asked.

Doing his best to act nonchalant, he scratched the side of his mask-covered cheek, "I hadn't really thought all that much about it really…," he replied, his tone implying that he was contemplating the matter for the first time. "I suppose so… don't really see why not. They'll do more good on her than just sitting in some dusty bank vault. Might as well give the set to someone who can actually use it." He then shrugged as casually as he could manage, hoping that Tsunade would buy his explanation – he had, in fact, made the decision to slowly give the entire set to Sakura when he had first stumbled upon it a couple months previous but he wasn't about to let that fact slip to the Hokage. The blonde woman was already protective enough of Sakura as it was.

"I see," she replied, managing to scale back her disbelief to a fairly inoffensive tone of mild doubt, but unable to prevent her eyebrow from rising. "Another person might ask as to what your intentions were in regard to your former student because, Kunoichi tools or not, that jewelry is a pretty serious gift coming from someone who is just a former teacher and friend…" She trailed off, then caught the jonin's eye, making sure he was listening. "_But_, I know you'd never intentionally hurt her," her eyes narrowed dangerously, "_right_?"

He swallowed, trying not to show the panic he was feeling. A part of him wanted to deny what the Sannin was saying, but he knew it would only make her angry, and at the moment making her angry seemed like a _very_ bad idea. So, he settled on a statement which he hoped would be vague enough to prevent her from jumping to any inaccurate conclusions, while still clear enough to appease her curiosity. "I care too much to let that happen."

Tsunade nodded and waved her hand in a dismissal. She had not expected a real answer from the Copy Ninja but, for the time being, she was satisfied with the response he had chosen to give to her.

* * *

Kakashi and Genma sat slumped at the bar in their usual pub which, since it was only a couple of hours past noon, was almost deserted. They had retired earlier than anticipated from their sparring session, the slightly younger shinobi having felt that he had punished his senbon-wielding companion enough for the day. Plus, since the Copy Ninja had just been healed of some fairly serious injuries incurred on a recent mission, and since (intelligent men that they were) neither had wanted to risk the wrath of a certain pink haired medic by aggravating said injuries, they had stuck to straight, unarmed taijutsu i.e. no chakra allowed. Thus, bruises, strains, and slight hairline fractures were about the worst of what either shinobi sported – in their minds, nothing serious enough to warrant a visit to the hospital.

Figuring that he had already had the shit kicked out of him that day and Kakashi couldn't do much more without sending him to the hospital, a now slightly inebriated Genma had decided to broach a topic he usually would have avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, the conversation wasn't going as well as he would have thought. "Kakashi, are you really that thick?" the brown haired man inquired.

"Eh? What the hell are you talking about Genma?" the Copy Ninja asked. He was feeling tired of dodging his friend's comments about Sakura – the last thing he really wanted to talk about at the moment was his former student.

"Your pink haired cherry blossom…" Genma trailed off with clear disbelief evident in his voice. He couldn't understand how someone whose genius was legendary could be so unaware when it came to matters of the heart.

Kakashi's eye narrowed, and he responded automatically. "She isn't mine you know… And, what about her?"

Genma caught the barely perceivable edge his friend's voice had just acquired – an edge the senbon wielding shinobi had begun to associate with the green eyed monster. It usually came out to play, he observed wryly to himself when a certain green eyed kunoichi was introduced into the conversation. He sighed audibly – it was going to be more difficult than he had imagined.

"For the last time Kakashi," said Genma, "I'm no longer interested in your cherry blossom. My little blonde bombshell has returned to my bed… and I intend to try and keep her there longer this time." He paused, thinking about the past couple of evenings he had spent with Sakura's former rival and almost losing himself to the pleasant memories. Hastily, he shook his head and decided to continue the nearly impossible conversation with the elite jonin before he completely distracted himself. "_And_, I don't think anyone else in the village would be so stupid as to try and take her from you after what you did to that sleaze-ball of a former landlord of hers," he added. "You _do_ know that's all around the village don't you? Everyone knows it was you, though, perhaps not Sakura…. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to tell her about it, beating the messenger and all that…"

"It was me who did what?" asked Kakashi. The younger man shook his head in genuine confusion. He'd never even met Sakura's former landlord, never mind having done anything to him – though, that didn't mean he wouldn't if given the chance.

Genma rolled his eyes. "Come on Kakashi – the shinobi on gate duty saw him slink into the village to do some business not too long ago, and they said he looked like he'd been beaten within an inch of his life. The prime suspects for such an incident, the wonder twins, were out of the village on another mission at the time, so… " He raised an eyebrow. "That leaves only you. No one has been able to guess _why_, of course. Unless… perhaps Sakura ran from more than a cold and water-damaged apartment?"

"I don't know anything about it, so I really couldn't say. This is the first I've heard of it." Kakashi took a lightning-fast sip of his drink, suddenly having a lot to think about – namely, who had taken it upon themselves to punish Sakura's former landlord in his stead and, of course, why?

Genma eyed his friend incredulously, looking for some sign that Kakashi was fibbing. Upon finding none, he thanked any power listening that he had never played cards with the Copy Ninja who, he was now positive, had one of the best poker faces he had ever come across. "_Regardless_, you can drop the jealous act," he said with a little bit of exasperation finally leaking into his voice. "Your precious kunoichi is safe from me and all other sane males in the village."

Feeling irked that his friend was ignoring everything he had just said, Kakashi narrowed his eye and tried again. "Genma she's _not_ …"

"Let me finish Kakashi," the senbon wielding shinobi interrupted. He waited for a moment before the annoyed jonin returned his calm gaze. "I don't think you're grasping the situation in its entirety. She's yours whether you accept or even choose to acknowledge it or not."

Kakashi opened his mouth to object once again only to be silenced by a look from his friend.

"Okay, so let me try it this way," Genma continued, doing his best to be patient. "Not only does Sakura have every jonin regularly assigned to gate duty keep tabs on your comings and goings, but they also alert her of them in person."

Feeling frustrated, the silver haired man nodded, seeing the sort of point his friend was trying to make and doing his best to ignore it. "They do the same for Naruto and Sasuke," he said testily.

"True, but she doesn't then make house calls for Naruto and Sasuke – not unless they're badly injured and not on their way to the hospital on their own."

Kakashi shrugged and didn't bother responding. He was used to preferential treatment from medics because of his long standing aversion of hospitals and his elite status.

"And, this doesn't suggest anything to you?" Genma asked.

"No, not particularly – why, should it?" The elite jonin shook his head in mock confusion.

Stopping himself from slamming the bar in frustration, Genma decided to try another tack. "Well then, what about those massages she gives you?"

"Hmm? Oh, she's only given me two – nothing special." As he spoke Kakashi realized that even he had a problem believing that last claim.

"That might be true, but she's also made it clear to you that she's willing to give you one whenever you're in need. How many others do you suppose she has granted that privilege to?"

Still not wanting to deal with Genma's all too accurate line of questioning, Kakashi shrugged noncommittally and lied. "I've no idea."

"None, Kakashi… No one, not even Naruto or Sasuke, and this doesn't suggest anything to you?"

He shrugged again. "No… don't think so."

The senbon wielding shinobi huffed in frustration. "Okay," he said, "how about this one? I took her out to that fancy dinner not too long ago. We were actually having a good time until you showed up, battered and bloody. What did she do?"

Kakashi shook his head – he could only guess since he had passed out as soon as Sakura had touched him. "Presumably, she bullied you into helping her get me up into her apartment and then she healed me." Forgetting himself for a moment, he smiled at the memory. "All in all, I think she took pretty good care of me while I recovered."

Genma's eyes widened with surprise on hearing this. Granted, whenever he had sought out the recuperating jonin for one thing or another, he had always found him at the medic's apartment, but Genma had just taken that as coincidence since Sakura now lived right across the street from Kakashi. He had had no idea that Kakashi had actually been living with her.

Meanwhile, realizing that he might have let slip something which he shouldn't have, the Copy Ninja shrugged again. "What else would she do?" he asked. "It's not like I was in any kind of condition to take care of myself at the time."

Feeling as though he might finally be making some progress, the brown haired man continued. "Did you happen to notice what happened to that sexy little dress she was wearing?"

"Er, no?" Kakashi thought for a moment. "She slept in it… I suppose with all the blood that got on it, it was probably ruined…"

Genma laughed. "So were all of my hopes of ever winning your pink haired kunoichi. Once I helped her get you up to her apartment, she focused entirely on you. She then spent the remains of her chakra doing what she could to heal and bind your wounds – that is, of course, until she passed out. I put her to bed and went home, though not before she asked me to make sure you were adequately covered for the night." He raised an eyebrow, hoping that his friend would see what he had been so subtly trying to point out.

Doing his best to ignore the blatant hints Genma was throwing in his face, Kakashi finished his drink. "Sounds as though she did what any other medic would have done." He said with a shrug.

The senbon wielding man again stared at Kakashi in disbelief. Finally, he shook his head, realizing that his younger friend was determined not to deal with the situation – the man was simply choosing not to acknowledge the kunoichi's obvious feelings for him. Annoyed, he ordered another round of drinks and gave it up as a lost cause.

Kakashi heaved a silent sigh of relief, knowing that the well-meaning man had finally given up – at least for the evening. However, the letch's arguments had included some fairly good points about Sakura's behavior. Absently, the silver haired jonin pulled out a battered copy of Icha Icha Tactics. He suddenly had a lot to think about, and he wasn't sure that he really wanted to contemplate any of it.

* * *

"I'm sorry, could you please repeat that?" asked Ino. "Somehow, it seems that something remarkably improbable just came out of your mouth…" The blonde looked incredulously at the pink haired woman seated across from her

Sakura flushed with mingled annoyance and embarrassment. "You know, I _knew_ I shouldn't tell you," she grumbled. She set down her teacup and readied herself to leave.

"Sakura wait! It's not that I don't believe you it's just…" Ino paused, looking for the right words. "I wouldn't have thought to hear that coming from you… especially after how you've reacted to him and my teasing in the past." The blonde shook her head. "How long now?"

The pink haired woman sighed and reached again for her drink. "I've no idea, but I'm guessing for a while now…"

"What?" Ino exclaimed.

The green eyed kunoichi laughed a little. "I think it's been a while now and I just didn't notice." She flushed and turned her gaze downward to the cup of tea in her hands. "He's a lot like Sasuke if you think about it… Not too much of a jump from one to the other I suppose…"

"Hmm, I guess not…" mused Ino. "He _is_ hot, that's for sure. I certainly wouldn't mind giving him a try although, then again, I do have Genma at the moment…" she trailed off, remembering her most recent escapades with the local letch and smiled – she knew that if she really wanted to keep him, the only way to do so would be to make him want more by dumping him periodically. After a moment of pleasant recollections, she shook her head to bring her mind back to the matter at hand. "_Damn_, Sakura…" she said with her surprise still clearly evident. "I'd teased you about it, but had never expected you to actually fall for the unemotional man – like, actually _fall_ for him. A quick fling, maybe, but... well... I mean, he's got a great body and is probably fantastic in bed given all those smutty little books he reads, but there isn't much else there, you know, emotionally…"

Unable to comment, Sakura shrugged. She knew Kakashi wasn't exactly unemotional – he was just adept at hiding his feelings.

"So, what are you going to do about it then?" asked Ino.

"Do?" Sakura replied innocently, as if she had no idea what her friend could be getting at. However, the same question had been plaguing her since she had recognized her feelings for her former sensei for what they were, and she still had no idea how to deal with the situation.

"C'mon Sakura, you know what I mean." Ino shot her friend an irritated look. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Oh that…" The pink haired woman sighed. "No. I don't think so. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, so they say."

"What? Why not?" her friend inquired incredulously. Ino could see no real problem with the situation, especially since she rather suspected that Kakashi returned Sakura's feelings or, at the very least, lusted after the pink haired woman – that was the impression she had gotten from Genma. Granted, according to Genma, Kakashi wasn't likely to ever act on his feelings, but if Sakura did first...

"It's complicated…" Sakura again glanced down at her hands, a faint blush coloring her face.

"Complicated my ass!" the annoyed blonde exclaimed. "What's wrong with a little complication?"

"Ino! Really! He used to be my sensei for starters!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling frustrated with both herself and her friend.

"So, he isn't anymore, and that's what matters. Besides, I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one else is looking…"

"_What_? You must be mistaken." Feeling confused and a little annoyed, the medic shook her head, not wanting to comprehend what her friend had just told her.

"No, Sakura, I'm not. I know for a fact…"

The blonde kunoichi was interrupted by soft grunting noises followed by the appearance of the small pig, Tonton and close on her heels, the pig's keeper.

"Oh! Sakura! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Shizune exclaimed as she caught up with the pig. "Tsunade needs to see you urgently."

Shocked that she had actually been hunted down on a day off, Sakura hastily rose. Then, remembering herself, smiled apologetically at her friend. "Sorry Ino…"

"No worries Sakura. Looks like whatever it is, it's important." Ino's eyes were also a little wide with surprise. "We'll finish this conversation later."

Hastily, Sakura followed Shizune back to the Hokage Tower. Judging by how relieved Shizune was to have found her, the pink haired woman guessed that whatever Tsunade wanted, it was imperative.

Upon entering the hokage's office, Sakura's jaw dropped. The room was in a complete shambles – obviously, thought the medic, something had happened to enrage Tsunade. But, whatever it was that had angered the older woman seemed to have passed, as she was now standing at one of the windows, calmly admiring the view.

Tsunade turned to face them as they approached her. "Ah, Shizune, you found Sakura. Good." She nodded a dismissal at the dark haired woman, and Shizune quickly took her leave. The Hokage turned to the pink haired medic. "I know you have the day off," she said with a weary note in her voice, "but a few things have changed… I've moved your research meeting up a couple weeks, so I need you to ready yourself to leave as soon as possible – no later than tonight."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Did they change the deadline?"

The older woman shook her head. "No, but the schedule here has changed a bit and, due to an anticipated shortage of shinobi, we will need your escort back here in the village sooner than we had expected. So, you will need to go now. I don't think it will make much difference to you since Kakashi is out of the village anyway – he will be until… well…" She trailed off, not sure how to tell Sakura that the mission her former sensei had undertaken was one from which he _wasn't_ expected to return.

Kakashi, along with several other of the village's elite, had been assigned and sent out on separate high-risk S or unranked missions by the elders – without her approval. Unfortunately, one of the many downsides to Tsunade's little drinking hobby was that she occasionally slept through meetings, and this time, she reflected grimly, she had apparently missed some important discussions. Her hands clenched at the idea that the council might have been waiting for such an event in order to slip through missions which she would never have accepted had she not been… indisposed.

Really, she thought irately, the old farts could be remarkably short-sighted sometimes – Kakashi wasn't a piece they could afford to throw away lightly, especially in light of a couple of recent developments. In fact, Tsunade had made plans for the Copy Ninja and had been beside herself to hear that the elders had interfered. Granted, she had been too hungover to make the meeting that had resulted in his assignment, but still… as a matter of courtesy they should have waited until she was available before making such a big decision.

Annoyed with herself, Tsunade shook her head and decided not to tell Sakura the details for now. There was still the slim chance that the Copy Ninja might make it back to the village –Kakashi wasn't one of the elite for nothing. He had beaten the odds in the past.

"He will be expected to return right around the time you will be returning to the village…" said the Hokage. "So, pushing up your meeting won't change or damage your findings since you're not losing any actual research time."

Sakura had to wonder about Tsunade's distracted behavior, but then dismissed it as something related to her superior's more important responsibilities – that is, something more important than routine mission assignments and research projects.

Quickly, Sakura calculated how long it would take to gather her research and pack for a couple weeks. "Okay," she said with a nod. "I can be ready to leave in an hour."

"Good. Meet your escort at the gate, and remember that they absolutely must return to the village on time. I will need them to escort a high ranking official to Snow almost right after you are due to return."

Sakura nodded and took her leave.


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight: Emergency

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: I'm late, I know, I know – sorry? Real life just gets in the way sometimes. THANK YOU! to my beta! You know I'd never get anything posted without your support and help! THANK YOU! Slowly things are wrapping up and the ending is definitely within sight. :) Many thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! I appreciate your comments and support. Thank you!

~*~*~*~

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Emergency

As stealthily as he could, Kakashi slipped from the room, his task complete. However, his success had not been without cost. The target had been as tough to take out as he had been informed, and Kakashi was not escaping unmarred. He paused to listen for the guards and couldn't help but wince as the sudden cessation of movement brought on a whole new wave of aches and pains.

It had been an unranked assassination mission, the level of difficulty so high as to be almost guaranteed kamikaze. Still, the Konoha elders had decided that the mission was too important to risk failure, and thus was worth the price of probably losing one of their strongest shinobi. Convinced that only the Copy Ninja could pull it off, ANBU had recommended him. And, he had accepted – as the elders had known he would; he had never refused the village his services when the mission requested was vital, regardless of the fact that chances of survival were slim. Kakashi hadn't even stopped to question Tsunade's absence during the briefing, though he had found himself wondering about it at the time, for the Hokage would usually be present when a shinobi was assigned a mission from which he would not be expected to return.

The assignment had taken weeks longer than had been anticipated, for the target had been ridiculously difficult to kill. The man had been a deaf-mute, but that hadn't stopped him from learning unarmed-close combat skills from a long string of masters – appropriately enough, specializing in a silent and lethal technique capable of inflicting considerable internal damage to the opponent. Consequently, his skill level had surpassed all except the most elite of close-combat fighters, and he had been able to give even the legendary Copy Ninja a difficult time.

Of course, the mission would have been much easier if Kakashi had been able to take the man out with a long-ranged attack. Unfortunately, the client's instructions had been quite specific: another assassin was to be framed for the death, which meant that the target's body had to show clear evidence that he had been struck down by that individual's signature technique. Undoubtedly, this was the reason why Kakashi had been suggested for the job, as it had not been necessary for the Leaf jonin to learn and perfect a new technique – he'd _already_ copied it after a run-in with the assassin in question several years previous.

As quickly as he could, the injured shinobi limped down the corridor. He knew that the wandering night security guards weren't due by on their rounds for another five minutes – which was just enough time for him to make it outside. As he was slipping through a door leading to the last hallway, however, he heard the unexpected sound of footsteps and cursed quietly. Somewhere, deep down, Kakashi had known that he had been getting off too lightly. From the sounds of the footsteps at least five men were coming toward him.

Knowing that he had nowhere to hide and couldn't hope to outrun the guards in his current state, Kakashi was left with the inevitability that they would find him no matter what he did – he decided that his only viable option would be to use the element of surprise and attack before they found him. Just as he was about to spring, however, the guards stopped abruptly. Kakashi froze as some inner voice of caution warned him to stay hidden. His instincts were soon proven correct – after a hushed conversation, the group hastily retreated. It was then that Kakashi heard the faint sounds of fighting off in the distance and he realized that he was in luck – something was distracting the guards elsewhere in the stronghold. If his good fortune held, he would be able to get clear of the grounds without any other incidents.

He waited only a couple of moments before rushing out of the building. He didn't know what had drawn away the guards – either someone had already discovered his kill or someone else had decided to infiltrate the stronghold that evening. Regardless, he knew it wouldn't pay to be inside once whatever seemed to be brewing finally exploded.

Without any further interruptions, he was able to make it to the perimeter of the estate. Unfortunately, just as he was painfully slipping over the wall (the internal injuries he seemed to have were not helping things) one of the few remaining guards spotted him and sounded the alarm.

Throwing as much caution as he could to the wind, he took off into the woods, knowing that pursuit would be only moments behind him.

~*~*~*~

Panting so hard that he felt as though his lungs were going to burst, Kakashi paused on a high tree branch and listened. Other than the sound of his own labored breathing, he could hear only the usual woodland sounds – a good sign, he knew… and, at the same time, a bad sign. Truly skilled shinobi could mask themselves well enough so that the animals of the forest would not be aware of their presence. Therefore, he reasoned, he was either alone or had a highly trained shinobi on his tail.

Forcefully calming his breathing, he surveyed his surroundings and concluded that he was alone. Cautiously, Kakashi dropped down to the ground near a tiny stream to tend to some of his wounds. Ideally, this would be something he would have Sakura do for him, but he knew that if he didn't at least perform basic first aid he wouldn't survive long enough to make it back to the village, never mind to Sakura.

It had been fear of pursuit which had kept the elite jonin from stopping until now. He had managed to take out most of his pursuers after a long series of evasive tactics had ended with a carefully calculated ambush. Unfortunately, three of the shinobi that he had thought were down for the count had managed to drag themselves to their feet long enough to launch a volley of kunai, shuriken and senbon at him as he took off from their brief skirmish – several had nearly struck their mark. That had been almost six hours prior, and Kakashi had been running (well, moving as fast as he could) ever since, the weapons still embedded in his flesh.

Gingerly, he began to pull out the weapons, cursing softly with each tug as he felt fresh blood begin to seep into his clothes. However, when he tried and failed to reach two particularly well-aimed blades which were lodged in his back, he realized that he needed assistance. Panting with pain, Kakashi considered his options, knowing that the longer he paused the easier it would be for someone to track him.

Unable to find an alternative, he reached carefully into his precious remaining chakra and created a clone to help him. Quickly, the clone pulled the remaining weapons from his back, helped him out of his shirt and cleaned the wounds. Before he had the clone bandage his back, Kakashi pulled the salve Sakura had given him for Christmas out of his pouch; then, he had his replica smooth it liberally over his entire back, in the hope that the chakra-infused medication might somehow not only do his wounds some good, but also his severely battered organs. Belatedly, he realized he had not gotten off as lightly from the deceased target as he had thought – he now knew that he definitely had some internal injuries. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about them except hope he could hold out until he made it back to the village.

~*~*~*~

With a muttered curse, Kakashi clumsily pulled his arm back from the now lifeless body and hissed with pain. Due to his debilitated state and probable over use of his Sharingan, he hadn't been able to brace himself properly before performing his chidori and was now paying the price via a large and fairly severe burn gracing his entire arm. Despite being distracted by the pain of the fresh burn and the now re-opened wounds on his back, he managed to note that his heart didn't quite seem to be behaving quite properly – another likely side effect of the improperly performed jutsu, he thought.

With a quiet groan, he managed to stagger through the underbrush until he found a spring. Cautiously, he knelt down to rinse his painfully charred arm. He eased the injured limb into the water, then sighed a little as he allowed himself just a moment to enjoy the temporary relief the icy temperature brought. After he carefully dried his arm, he applied Sakura's salve liberally to the burns before bandaging the whole thing as best he could. Then, after a moment's contemplation, he smeared a generous amount on his chest as well, hoping once again that it would have a positive effect on the internal damage… and the shock which he was certain was threatening to set in. He could already feel a chill that he knew had nothing to do with the icy spring water he had just used to clean his wound.

Determinedly, the jonin continued on toward Konoha. He hoped that the enemy he had just killed was the last, as he wasn't sure if he could even make it back to the village, never mind survive another fight. He knew that he had nothing left – that that last chidori had taken the remains of his chakra, and that his energy was fading fast. And, Kakashi knew that if he stopped one more time, he probably wouldn't be able to start again.

~*~*~*~

The gates swam into a fuzzy focus as he staggered closer and closer. Though he could see the tantalizing landmark, Kakashi knew that he was still a couple of miles away from his destination.

The assassination and dealing with the pursuit, combined with his long journey home, had taken more out of him than he had had to give. The pain had gone beyond unbearable and his whole body felt numb. He knew that he had lost enough blood to leave a fairly sporadic trail right back to Konoha if someone were skilled enough to find and follow it. And, he was certain that the last chidori had done more damage to him than the massive burn covering the majority of his right arm – he wasn't as young as he used to be, but he sincerely doubted that his age was the reason why his heartbeat hadn't felt quite right after receiving the massive chakra backlash. In addition, Kakashi knew that there was also something off with his sight; even with his Sharingan closed and covered, he seemed to be having problems not related to his extreme fatigue – no doubt, he figured, he had over-used it again. Plus, judging by the way his legs were behaving, he had strained them beyond their limits. It was only through sheer willpower that he was able to move them at all, never mind lurch determinedly for miles without rest.

All in all, he was in bad shape. _Very_ bad shape, in fact – enough to make him regret having accepted the mission in the first place. He couldn't count the number of similar missions he had taken in the past, each time with the understanding that his luck might not hold and that he might not return to the village. But now, as he was stumbling back, he began to wonder if, this time, he might have been wrong. Kakashi had had plenty of time to think while observing his target, and part of the conclusion he had come to was that he now had more to live for than just the village. During his long trek back to Konoha, he had thought many times of giving up and allowing himself to sag to the ground in defeat – the pain practically demanded that he do so. Regardless, he doggedly kept on, with only one goal in his mind.

It wasn't fair, he knew, but… if he was going to be leaving the world of the living, he wanted to give his pink haired medic the chance to pull him back. He knew that if she wasn't at least granted the chance to do so, she would grieve unnecessarily over him – she would wonder if she would have been able to save him had she been there. That was the question which had plagued _him_ in the depths of the nights following his mother's death. He would not knowingly inflict it on _anyone_, never mind someone he cared for as much as he cared for her.

This was the only goal which had filled Kakashi's mind and which had kept him moving. His world had narrowed to the road in front of him. He told himself that every step he took was one step closer to her… and that all he wanted was to make it back. He didn't care if he collapsed at her door; he just wanted to make it there.

Once again, he lost himself in his own thoughts as he continued to move painfully forward. Each step brought him a little closer to his goal and a little further away at the same time. He knew he was beyond seriously injured and that the odds of him making it back the village under his own power were slim – and, that the odds of him actually surviving were even slimmer.

~*~*~*~

Almost before Kakashi knew it, he found himself stumbling through the gate. He realized then that he must have blacked out for the last couple miles, even though he had somehow managed to keep his body moving. Vaguely, he became aware of voices. He couldn't determine what they were saying, but he could understand their tone, which was laced with what he imagined to be concern. Painfully, he tried to wave them off. He would go to her on his own. It was the middle of the night – she was sure to be either at home or the hospital.

The voices became more agitated. He could tell that they were arguing either with him or with each other. Single-mindedly, he continued on, ignoring whatever was agitating the pair of jonin on gate duty. Unbidden, fragments of their exchange drifted to his ears.

"…came back a couple days ago…not too far… to her… ahead to warn…"

"…no … not there…"

"…steer him to her then…"

"…not _here_… not in village… didn't come back…"

Fear clutched at his numb stomach as he suddenly tried to understand the brief snatches of argument he was hearing. He just knew that he couldn't have heard correctly. Determinedly, he kept on, finding a reserve of energy he didn't know he had and pushing on to her apartment.

What he had heard couldn't possibly be true.

~*~*~*~

His brief burst of energy was flagging but he knew he was almost there. Kakashi could see her building up ahead. Then, just as he was rounding a corner, he sensed several unfamiliar chakra signatures… too late. He cursed himself for his weakness as he watched the ANBU operatives circle him warily. The elite jonin was in no shape to fight and he knew it – but, that didn't mean he wouldn't go down without at least trying.

He put up as much of a fight as he was able, but the outcome was inevitable. Kakashi felt a perverse satisfaction in the couple of blows which he was able to land on his assailants. However, after an all too brief scuffle, he was rendered completely unconscious and carried to the hospital.

~*~*~*~

A strange, annoying, monotonous beep invaded his sleep. Cautiously, Kakashi opened his eye to seek and destroy the source of the sound. He was in pain – lots of pain – and all he wanted to do was sleep. Upon glancing around the room, the groggy shinobi realized that he was not in his pink haired medic's apartment as he had assumed and that the sound he wanted to silence wasn't her alarm clock.

Waking up a little more, he took better stock of his surroundings. There was no mistaking it – he was in the hospital. Foggily, his mind tried to make sense of this. The last he remembered, he had been staggering to Sakura's apartment. Giving little thought to what he was doing, he pulled off the various sensors that were attached to him and swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed, cringing in pain as he moved. Ignoring the discomfort, and the shrill alarms from the machines to which he had been attached, he found his backpack and slowly removed and donned his spare pair of pants

Just as he was searching for a shirt, a couple of nurses barged into the room.

"Mr. Hatake! What are you doing?!" one cried sharply, horror clear in her voice.

The second nurse beat a hasty retreat looking for backup.

"Leaving," he grunted, then paused for a moment as a flare of pain temporarily incapacitated him.

"You're still in critical condition! You _can't_ leave!" the nurse cried, going to his side. However, with another grunt of pain, he brushed her aside.

"I'm fine," he replied. "If I need help I will get it." Kakashi was thinking of Sakura and wondering where she was – he wanted very much to see her, and it was unlike her not to be handy when he woke up in the hospital.

The nurse hastily got to her feet, her eyes narrowing. "You mean Ms. Haruno will finish the job, don't you?"

Kakashi didn't respond. Instead, he chose to make his way to the door. He was in no shape to leave via the window – his usual means of exiting the hospital – and he knew it.

Quickly, the nurse moved to block his exit, fear of losing him keeping her from thinking too much about the actual phrasing of her response. "She's not here… she didn't come back with the rest of her team."

His eye widened as the fragments of memory from his arrival in the village returned to him. Angry and hurt, he reached out to brush her out of the way again. He needed to find out where Sakura was and what had happened – it just _couldn't_ be true.

As he was making a second attempt at the door, with questions as to what had happened to Sakura on the tip of his tongue, it suddenly flew open and several off-duty jonin poured in – Guy apparently leading the attack.

"Alright, my Eternal Rival. The Hokage didn't nearly kill herself saving you just to have you ruin all her hard work by trying to leave early," the green-spandexed man chided Kakashi. "Get back to bed – you're in no shape to be up and about yet. Even _Tsunade_ isn't in any kind of shape to be up and about, and she wasn't the patient."

If the Copy Ninja had needed proof that his condition was still critical, this was it – Guy, he knew, was only serious in situations where someone could actually die. Then, as he was contemplating his next move, several of the other men pounced, grabbing hold of the elite jonin and securing him so that one of the nurses could administer a sedative injection.

He struggled a bit, but knew it was a losing battle as the world slowly started to fade into black.

~*~*~*~

Kakashi awoke slowly, feeling as though his entire body had been pushed through a meat grinder. Unable to stop himself, he groaned a little before opening his eye to take in his surroundings. He sighed with frustration upon realizing that he was still in the hospital, though his room seemed to have been changed – there were now bars on the windows. Obviously, he realized, he'd been moved to the high security sector.

Still feeling fuzzy, he shook his head. When that didn't clear the sleep induced cobwebs, he raised a hand to rub his eyes – at least, he _tried_ to do so. With a muttered curse, he realized that both his arms and legs had been restrained and, when he looked down to confirm it, he noticed the IV in his arm and cursed again. They'd decided to keep him sedated, too.

As he lay there, foggily wondering what his next move should be, but having difficulties concentrating on anything for more than a moment at a time, he suddenly remembered Sakura. With renewed effort, he tried to clear his mind. When that didn't work, he tried freeing himself from the restraints.

After quite a few attempts, and completely exhausting himself, he had to admit defeat. He slipped back into a light doze, unaware that he had almost freed himself – and that he had been closely monitored the entire time by members of the hospital's security team and several of the floor's staff. Some of the more nervous nurses heaved sighs of relief when he finally gave into sleep.

~*~*~*~

"So, here he is..." The female voice intruded upon his hazy, fog-filled thoughts.

"You sure that's him? I heard he doesn't do hospitals…" another feminine voice replied, sounding slightly worried.

"'Course I'm sure. He _is_ my patient after all," the first voice (his nurse, he guessed) responded.

"Oh… Okay then. What are we doing here?" the second voice asked with some confusion.

The sound of giggling which followed alerted him that his nurse seemed to be up to no good. He groaned to himself. The restraints and sedatives were bad enough – what else could they _possibly_ come up with to humiliate him?

"Well… I got to thinking that he's been here almost two weeks right?"

"Um, yes, I think you're right."

The first voice giggled again. "It's an awful long time to go without brushing your teeth isn't it?"

He could barely make out the gasp which came from the other woman – obviously, Kakashi concluded, she didn't have quite the same mischievous streak as his nurse.

"Oh that's naughty, Noriko," the second woman then scolded. "You know as well as I do that it states explicitly in his file not to remove his mask under _any_ circumstances."

His nurse snorted. "Actually, that's not a real order. It was just penciled in by _that_ medic. You _know_ the one."

"I don't know…" the timid woman hesitated. "He's legendary for liking his privacy… I don't think I've ever heard of anyone removing his mask for _any_ reason..."

"I bet he's a total hottie under there and _she_ just doesn't want to share, _as usual_." The nurse's voice almost dripped with venom. "You _know_ she takes all the hot ones for herself. She took one from you a couple months ago… um, the Uchiha, was it?"

"Now that's not exactly fair…" the more rational woman interjected, apparently trying to placate her friend. "We don't know why she has so many exclusive patients. It could be any number of things. _And_, she didn't come take him from me until _after_ he refused to cooperate. Come to think of it, she was kind of annoyed with him about the whole thing, good-looking or not…"

"Feh, yeah right. It's all probably because she was the Hokage's apprentice and now no one will dare to cross her or tell her 'no' without fear of drawing the 'kage's wrath. I'll bet she isn't even all that great – it's just the Hokage's reputation she's living off of now... half her patients probably don't even know that she isn't all that good."

"_Noriko_!" The second woman sounded scandalized. "Neither of us have seen her work before! You can't just assume that she can't do her job as well as the next medic."

"Okay, so she's likely to be at least a half-decent medic," the annoyed woman grudgingly admitted. "But, I bet she isn't all she's cracked up to be. No one's _that_ good... 'cept maybe the 'kage herself..."

There was a moment of silence during which the restrained shinobi desperately wished for something, _anything, _to happen to distract his seemingly determined nurse from violating his privacy. He already knew from experience that the restraints were tough and extremely tight. And, the drugs they had been pumping into his system were too strong for him to focus long enough to accomplish anything, never mind actually freeing himself… which he'd been trying to do since waking up and remembering being told that Sakura hadn't made it back from her last mission. He needed to know if it was true that she was gone and not coming back. Unfortunately, he was having a hard time staying awake and focusing long enough to ask someone about her.

~*~*~*~

Feeling absolutely exhausted, Sakura finally made it to the village gate, reflecting that she had never been so glad to be home. As she was passing through the gates, one of the jonin on duty caught her arm to stop her. She turned to look at him questioningly.

The man smiled apologetically at the surprised woman. "Sorry," he said. "Couldn't seem to get your attention."

She flushed and realized she must have been so focused on her return that she hadn't been paying too much attention to her surroundings – something that could be lethal to someone in her profession. "Er, sorry about that. It's just so good to finally be home."

"Er, yes," the nervous man agreed. In fact, he just wanted to deliver his message and get away from the legendarily volatile woman. He'd heard more than one story involving messengers turning into pincushions after delivering unfavorable news to the pink haired medic and wanted nothing to do with learning all about it first-hand. "Um, anyway," he added, "you're wanted urgently at the hospital."

Sakura looked at him as if he had three heads. "What?" she asked. She had just returned from a prolonged mission and was absolutely exhausted. Even Tsunade, she knew, would not expect to see her until the next day – only something extremely important would necessitate her being waylaid as soon as she entered the village.

"Uh, well, it would seem that one of your patients has been causing trouble since he returned to the village a couple weeks ago…" The nervous jonin sidled a half-step away from the occasionally frightening woman before continuing. "Guess he was refusing treatment and they had to send people after him..."

The medic's eyes widened as she realized that a certain silver haired shinobi must have returned to the village while she was away – and apparently, with wounds serious enough for treatment. And, of course, as was usual for him, Kakashi had refused it figuring that she would be there to heal him. "_Shit_," was all she managed to get out before finding a reserve of energy she didn't know she had and taking off in the direction of the hospital.

Faster than she would have thought possible, Sakura found herself at the sprawling medical building. Upon entering, the nurse assigned to the front desk looked up, startled at the kunoichi's sudden and rather dramatic appearance.

"Oh! Ms. Haruno, you're back! Thank god!" The woman exhaled with some relief. "That pain-in-the-rear you call a former sensei has been making a right mess of things here while you've been away!"

Sakura sighed. She had hoped to have a little time off before having to go back work in the hospital. "And, I had hoped the jonin at the gate had been over-stating things," she replied. "Alright, where is he? I'll go take care of it."

The nurse smiled at the young medic, suddenly able to find the whole situation kind of cute in a way… now that there would be no more headaches for her caused by the troublesome patient. "He's in the restricted ward, high security sector, room number 212," she said with a little bit of embarrassment. "I'm sorry to say that there were a couple of, um, _incidents_…"

The pink haired woman groaned. "Ugh, he would just have to come in injured while I was out of the village, wouldn't he...? And, of course, it would be too much trouble for him to behave himself until I returned." Feeling slightly frustrated, Sakura shook her head. "What am I going to do with him?"

The nurse laughed. "You spoil him."

"Huh?" Sakura asked with a bit of confusion... and denial.

"Just go – take care of him and, for Pete's sake, try not to be out of the village for so long next time!"

"Right, right." The pink haired medic nodded and took off into the maze of halls.

Several minutes travel found her outside of room number 212. She paused to catch her breath and quickly scan the chart on the door. Then, Sakura's face paled as her eyes skimmed the pages and pages of new notes attached to the file – she had to swallow a couple times upon seeing the long laundry list of Kakashi's injuries and the fact that, not only had Tsunade herself had taken him on as her patient, but that the Hokage had literally spent hours and hours working on him when he had been admitted.

Kakashi, she realized, had only just barely made it. According to Shizune's scribbled notes, his heart had actually stopped at one point – Sakura felt her own heart constrict a little upon reading that Kakashi had technically died on the table. The internal injuries alone would have taken down most decent shinobi, she knew, never mind what he had apparently added to it... hastily Sakura pushed these thoughts out of her mind to better deal with the man himself. Worrying over what had already happened would do her no good, although a small part of her couldn't help but continue to be a bit shaken at how close she,( no, she amended to herself, the village,) had come to losing him.

As Sakura walked into the room, she stopped in her tracks at what she found: her former sensei was strapped into a hospital bed with an IV in his arm and bandages covering not only his Sharingan, but most of what she could see of him. And, two nurses were hovering guiltily over him, one of them with a hand outstretched halfway to his mask-covered face.

Feeling her anger explode, Sakura carefully calmed herself down a little before speaking. "Kindly step away from my patient, please," she said in a carefully controlled voice.

It might have been her imagination, but the silver haired patient seemed to twitch at the sound of her voice.

Hastily, the two women backed away from the man in the bed. One of them narrowed her eyes at the kunoichi. "In case you hadn't noticed," said the nurse, "mine is the name on the chart."

Sighing to herself, Sakura realized it was going to be one of those days. She had, on rare occasions, had encounters with other members of the medical staff over her boys as well as other members of the rookie nine. Generally, she didn't force the issue. But, on occasion, _they_ did.

Taking a deep breath, the annoyed pink haired medic did her best to stay civil. "I'm sure it is, and I'm sure you've done a lovely job taking care of him so far," she replied. "Thank you – I appreciate what you have done for him. But, if you take another look at the file, you will find that he became my patient the moment I stepped foot back in Konoha." She smiled as sweetly as she could manage, feeling thankful for the clause she had added into Kakashi's file for just such occasions. "I'm sure you've noticed, but he isn't exactly a model patient." The pink haired medic then waited a moment for the two intruding nurses to leave. Her hands were itching to remove the restraints, and the IV of what she was positive was some sort of sedative. Seeing Kakashi like that, Sakura decided, was just plain wrong on so many levels.

The nurse who had remained silent slowly made her way to the door. "Come on, Noriko," she said to her co-worker, "we have other patients to attend."

However, the still clearly annoyed woman crossed her arms across her chest belligerently. "No. I'd like to see just how well she handles him. She can't do any better than I have been doing – _no one_ can."

"Noriko, _really_, that's uncalled for!" The shyer woman's face burned with embarrassment. She had no issue with the kunoichi stealing patients out from under other nurses or medics as, for the most part, she tended to take those who caused the most trouble. Granted, those also tended to be the most attractive of the lot, but that still didn't change the fact that, for whatever reason, the pink haired woman _was_ able to handle them better than anyone else.

Meanwhile, keeping her anger in check, Sakura waved her hand dismissively – it wasn't the first time she had been asked to prove her capability with a patient before she took over for an offended staff member. "Stay or not, it doesn't matter to me," she said then. "Just step away from my patient so I can get started, please." A small part of her was happy that, as tired as she was, she had used little of her chakra during her return journey. She would need it to help Kakashi.

Huffing to herself, the belligerent woman backed off and joined her friend at the foot of the bed.

Once both women were clear, Sakura moved over to Kakashi's side. The first thing she did was to determine if he was awake or sleeping. She was pleasantly surprised at finding his eye open, and she smiled at him as she raised the back of the bed a little so that he was in a more comfortable position. Next, she gently removed his IV, using a little chakra to heal the tiny, but sure to be sore, puncture. As she did this, she heard a gasp from the more timid of the two nurses. However, Sakura was not concerned. Unlike most medics, she didn't need to pump Kakashi full of sedatives to get him to cooperate.

"That was stupid," the offended woman remarked softly, though still loudly enough for the pink haired woman to overhear.

Sakura sighed to herself – yes, she thought resignedly, it was just going to be one of _those_ encounters. Again choosing to ignore the comment, she continued on with what she was doing. Next, she carefully removed all of the restraints, this time eliciting another gasp from both members of her audience.

The timid woman found her voice first. "Y-you really shouldn't do that… It took four of us to get him back in that bed the last time he got out…" Unlike her friend's voice, hers only held concern.

Sakura turned and smiled at the worried woman. "Don't worry," she answered. "He won't try to leave again. He knows better than to try to do something silly like that when I'm here."

The one called Noriko huffed, unable to keep her opinion to herself. "Just because you were the Hokage's apprentice, doesn't mean that he won't try to run from you like he has from the rest of us."

Startled, Sakura turned to look at the woman who was shooting her a death glare. "Eh? Is _that_ what you think?" she asked incredulously.

Mutely, the two other women nodded – one with embarrassment and the other with a note of challenge, as if she were daring Sakura to try and deny the truth.

The Kunoichi shook her head dismissively and turned back to her patient. "That's not it at all," she said with faint annoyance. "The fact that _Tsunade_ was my teacher has nothing to do with this." Gently, Sakura laid her hand on Kakashi's mask-covered cheek and concentrated for a moment, sending chakra into his system to burn off as much of the sedatives as she could while at the same time taking a quick preliminary scan to see how his rather extensive injuries were healing.

"What on earth are you doing!?" Expecting the now mostly clear-headed shinobi to try and make a break for it, Noriko took a couple steps toward the bed. "That was remarkably stupid of you!! Damn it! He's one of the elite!! We'll _never_ be able to get him back! This, this will be all _your_ fault."

Sakura turned and smiled sweetly at the woman, by now thoroughly tired of listening to her. "He won't be going anywhere until I tell him he can leave." She turned to the man now regarding the three women in his room disinterestedly. "Right, Kakashi-_sensei_?"

The older man winced at her use of the defunct honorific – then, he looked up at her, almost as if he was actually considering her question. After a moment, he gave her one of his best fake smiles and made a weak attempt to reach out and ruffle her hair.

Sakura knew that smile. She patted his cheek as she tilted her head to avoid his hand. "Because," she then continued, "you know I will hunt you down and remove your liver if you should decide to leave before I let you go."

He glared at her in response, showing none of the pleasure and relief he was feeling at seeing her again. "I'll stay… Sakura-_chan_," he said, a faint hint of defeat as well as annoyance clearly present in his voice.

Sakura turned to look at the two open-mouthed nurses still standing in the room. Her little act had been a bit over the top, but she was certain that it had gotten the message across. She nodded, no longer wanting to deal with the women. "I think I have proven my point and I'm sure you have plenty to do with your other patients." She left the statement hanging – a clear hint that she wanted them to leave. When neither of them made a move, she sighed. "I'll take full responsibility for any trouble he may get into, so neither of you will have anything to worry about."

The more timid of the two nurses pulled on her friend's arm and they reluctantly took their leave.

Silently, Sakura heaved a sigh of relief (not realizing that she wasn't the only one to do so) and settled herself on the edge of the hospital bed to get a better look at Kakashi.

"You know, Kakashi," she chided, "things would be a lot easier if you would just behave yourself whenever you need medical assistance and I'm not available. Those two are probably going to go run off to the shift supervisor and I'm going to have to spend ages making up for all the messes you've made while I was away." As she spoke, she placed her hand on the exposed portion of his forehead, starting a full scan to check the true extent of his injuries and the progress he had made.

Kakashi didn't answer. Instead, he studied her, taking in her summer clothes, the new tan tinted with a bit of sunburn and her travel-weary appearance. She looked as though she'd been traveling for a week or so, nothing more – as far as he could tell, nothing out of the ordinary had happened to her recently. So… then why hadn't she come back with her team from her last mission?

Sakura felt his eye on her as she finished with her scan and sighed, knowing that he wouldn't apologize for the trouble he had caused her – or rather, more likely would cause her in the next couple of days. "Anyway," she said, "now that all that's settled, I really should go. I've been traveling all day and feel disgusting." Unthinkingly, she patted his cheek, then added, "You know, you really need a shave." Surprise was clearly evident in her voice. She rubbed her hand across his mask-covered cheek absently and giggled as the short silver hairs poked through the material and into her hand. "Prickly."

His hand caught hers. "Sakura…" he murmured.

"Hmm? You _are_ a man so I suppose you _would_ have facial hair. I'm just surprised for some reason… on all those extended missions, how on earth…" She trailed off as she realized that her hand was still resting lightly on his cheek, his hand encircling her wrist. "Sorry." She removed her hand, and was surprised yet again when he didn't remove his, but instead shifted it so that he was holding her hand.

"Where have you been?" Kakashi asked, doing his best to keep all emotion from his voice, and failing.

Startled, Sakura looked down at him. "Huh?" The pink haired woman eyed him inquisitively; she had heard a note of genuine concern in his voice mixed with something she couldn't easily identify. "Suna. Why?"

"When I came back… they said you… they said that you didn't come back with your team from your last mission…" The older man trailed off, not having wanted to be so direct with his answer.

Understanding suddenly dawned on the pink haired woman. He had been seriously worried about her, she realized – a small part of her suddenly wondered if his escape attempts might have had something to do with that concern. Unable to help herself, she smiled softly at him, feeling just a faint hint of heat in her cheeks.

"No, I didn't," she answered. "As we were getting ready to leave there was an earthquake. The damage to the city was widespread and the casualties and injured lists extensive. There was just no way I was going to leave Sand at a time like that. So, I sent my escort on ahead; they were bored enough as it was and had another mission waiting for them in Konoha. I sent word to Tsunade with them…" She shook her head a little, trying to focus more on the present than the fact that he had been very upset about her absence. "I would have thought someone might have told you about it though… It's not like it was a secret or anything."

He nodded, still feeling more than relieved that she was indeed okay, but unable to put his feelings into words. "What were you doing in Suna?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, Kakashi, I'm pretty good at what I do. And, what I do doesn't solely consist of taking care of shinobi too stubborn to seek medical treatment on their own." She grinned at his discomfiture at her remark. "I'm usually called to Suna five or six times a year." She flushed a little as she added, "With my research, I'm now uniquely qualified to help with some of their research, you see…"

He nodded, accepting her explanation. After a contemplative moment of silence Kakashi changed the topic. "When you let me out of here, set some time aside," he said. "I'd like to teach you something."

She raised an eyebrow in enquiry. "I thought you'd given up teaching… _sensei_."

He chuckled. "I think I can make an exception for this."

"Okay, now you've got me curious." She smiled at him and rose to her feet. "But, I'm still feeling tired and gross. I've really got to go home and take a shower at the very least." She eyed him again. "You _are_ going to stay put, aren't you?"

He sighed, then opened his mouth to protest. He really didn't want to have to stay in the hospital if he could help it. And, now that she was back in the village…

Hastily, Sakura interrupted, sensing his upcoming argument. "Kakashi, you simply aren't in any kind of shape to leave the hospital. You really did a number on yourself... you must have looked like hell when you arrived." She blushed a little for what she was going to say next, but hoped that in saying it he would understand just how close to dying he had really come. "I-I'm kind of glad I wasn't here to see for myself. I don't know if I would have been able to handle it..." her voice broke a little and she had to pause to gather herself before continuing. "It's better that Tsunade treated you. I don't even know if I would have been _able_ to save you this time." As she spoke, she let her gaze fall to her hand – she was faintly surprised that he was still holding it, his thumb moving over the back of it in soothing circles.

He eyed her for a moment… then he sighed and squeezed her hand gently before letting go. He did not want to cause his medic any more pain. "Alright, Sakura. I'll stay."

Her face lit up and she smiled at him, immediately feeling more than relieved. "Good. If you like, I'll stop by your place to pick up a couple of things for you..." Then, she giggled a little. "…Like, clothes? I'm guessing that they took everything away except your masks when they moved you here."

He rolled his eye and she laughed.

"If you're good, I might even bring you a couple of your Icha Icha books... any preference?" She winked mischievously at him, knowing that the little smutty books would go a long way in taking the older man's mind off his own situation.

Surprised that she would make the offer, Kakashi chuckled and shook his head. "No, not really. I'll be happy with whatever you bring... _Anything_ is better than staring at the walls all day."

Sakura nodded and smiled again. "Okay, I'll be back later with clothes and reading material. Just try to behave while I'm gone, will you?"

He grinned. "I'll try."

About ten minutes after Sakura had left, Kakashi sat bolt upright in bed, cursing at both the pain of his slowly healing injuries and because of something that had just occurred to him.

In the event that he didn't make it back from the mission, he had left his entire Icha Icha collection in a box on his kitchen table... including the unsealed original novel and the extra drawings of Sakura he had managed to confiscate from Jiraiya. Kakashi had done this to prevent the new resident of his apartment from finding those particular items unexpectedly. He had also considered burning them but, in the end, he hadn't been able to follow through – as much as he didn't want to admit it, he liked the thought of returning to their ashes less than the thought of someone else finding them after his name was added to the memorial. The problem now was, of course, that it had never occurred to him that the person to find them might be _Sakura… _and that he would still be among the living at the time. Granted, she _had_ given him the novel, but _he_ had gone after and obtained the original sketches. And, of course, she had never seriously imagined that Jiraiya had actually faithfully represented her in the story.

Torn, he sat completely still and thought. He had promised Sakura he would stay put, but, if he did, she would find something he really would rather she didn't...

"_Shit_."


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine: Healing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: My apologies for the delay. Life gets in the way sometimes. ^^; Anyway, if I can't get the rest of this fic posted by April I will have to take another hiatus - I'm moving and changing jobs again and probably won't have time to work on this until I'm settled again. Sorry. :-/ Real life can stink sometimes.

Ginormous thanks to my beta!! You know I'd never get anything done without you to help me along and keep my wayward grammar in check. . Many thanks to all those who who have been reading and reviewing. I really appreciate all the support! :)

~*~*~*~

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Healing

Quickly, Sakura headed back to her own apartment, more than looking forward to a nice, hot shower and probably a nap. She had been tired and travel weary when she had returned to the village and, after the scare she had just had with Kakashi, she now found herself emotionally drained as well as physically.

Sakura had always known that one day she would lose Naruto and Sasuke, and a smaller part of her had known that she would most likely lose Kakashi first. But, he had become such a constant in her life – especially over the past year or so – that it was hard for her to imagine how things would be without him around. The thought of really, truly losing him had always scared her, but she now realized that it actually scared her more than the thought of losing her other two boys. The intelligent medic knew why, of course – however, she didn't really know what to do about it. To tell him would probably be a mistake, yet… could she live with herself after he had passed, having not told him?

Frustrated with both herself and the situation, she shook her head and decided to skip the shower and nap in favor of a long, relaxing bath. Kakashi had just recently given her some lovely bubble bath in the guise of her secret admirer… and she had a lot to think about.

~*~*~*~

Feeling much better for having had a nice, long soak – though no closer to figuring out what course of action she would take regarding her former sensei – Sakura casually made her way over to Kakashi's apartment. Upon entering, she was immediately struck at how neat, tidy and, above all, impersonal everything seemed to be. In fact, the flat didn't have the feel of an occupied living space; instead, it had the generic feeling of an apartment waiting to be rented.

Then, as she entered his bedroom and found the same almost scrupulous neatness she had found in his living room, it hit her – _he hadn't expected to make it back from his last mission_. The realization was so hard and painful that it almost took her breath away. She had known that, like all of the elites, Kakashi was fully prepared to go on a mission from which he would not be expected to return. Still, it disturbed and upset her on a very deep level to find this physical evidence of his unquestioning loyalty to the village. His fate was sealed, as simple as that: one day he wouldn't come back.

Hastily, Sakura shoved those thoughts aside, knowing that no good would come of them. Instead, she concentrated on packing a bag of clothes and toiletries for Kakashi, making sure to include his shaving kit. Once she had finished, she realized that she hadn't come across any of the components of his Icha Icha collection. Stopping for a moment to think about it, Sakura realized that it was strange – she knew he had a rather large collection, including multiple copies of each volume and all the special editions. Usually he kept the books out of sight in his bedroom, but she couldn't find any trace of them.

Wandering out of the bedroom, she made a quick sweep of the living room, looking for the smutty books. Puzzled, she then tried the kitchen where she spotted an unadorned storage box she had never seen before sitting on his table. Curious, she lifted the lid and saw that she had found Kakashi's stash of dirty novels. She wondered for a moment why he would put them in a box in his kitchen before realizing once again that he had been unsure if he would return from his last mission. Kakashi had probably packed up the books to save her (Sakura knew she would be the one to clean out his apartment if, or rather, _when_ something happened to him) the embarrassment of having to do it herself.

Just as she was about to pick the top few books out of the box, she heard someone else enter the apartment. Not wanting to be caught rifling through Kakashi's porn, she hastily closed the box and, picking up her bag, got ready to leave with the entire collection.

A moment later, Naruto bounced into the room. "Sakura! I've been wondering where you were!" the blonde ninja cried.

He happily bounded over to her and pulled her into an almost bone-crushing hug. "I thought I might find you here…" he said with a grin. "Well, after checking the hospital, Ino's, the tea shop you like, the dango place near the hospital, and your own apartment… Welcome back! How was your mission?"

"Can't… breathe… Naruto!" she gasped.

"Oh, heh, sorry 'bout that." He released her and lifted his hand to the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Just happy to see you again. I guess I was a little worried. How'd it go?"

She chuckled. "It's okay Naruto. It went well, I think. I have some new avenues of research to pursue now. I'm looking forward to it."

"That's good." He tilted his head a little and asked the more important question. "I heard you got stuck in an earthquake?"

"Oh, yeah, it was kind of scary – one of the largest in recent history. But, I was with the Kazikage at the time, so I didn't really have to worry about it. When it was all over, I stayed behind to help care for the wounded. A large portion of the city was destroyed… But, well, knowing Gaara, it will probably back to normal sooner rather than later…"

"That's good, then – glad to hear that you're okay." Naruto grinned. "Me 'n Sasuke are gonna get some ramen later. You'll come, right?"

"Hmm, well…" Sakura thought about it. She had intended on spending some quality time in the hospital… with a certain silver haired patient.

"Aw, c'mon Sakura! It's been _ages_ since we all got ramen…" he whined, sensing that she was going to decline.

The kunoichi looked at his pleading expression and found herself unable to refuse. "Okay, okay, Naruto," she said smiling. "I'll come. Just let me run a couple of errands first."

"Oh, you're gonna drop some of Kakashi's things off for him at the hospital, aren't you? That could be dangerous, enabling him, you know. Once he has pants, you might not see him for a couple weeks…"

"Don't worry about that Naruto. He's not going anywhere in the near future."

The blonde man eyed her skeptically for a moment before shrugging. The implication was clear – it would be her funeral if she let their former sensei escape before he was fully healed. "Whatever you say…"

"It'll be fine Naruto. I'll meet you at Ichiraku when I'm done."

He grinned happily. "Okay, Sasuke 'n I will save you a stool!"

With a sigh, Sakura gathered everything she needed, including Kakashi's box o' porn, and followed Naruto from the apartment.

~*~*~*~

With a slight feeling of dread, Sakura knocked before carefully opening the door to Kakashi's hospital room. Naruto's earlier comments had begun to prey on her mind and she was now almost afraid that the jonin wouldn't be there. Her heart stopped for a moment when she realized that she was looking at an empty bed – wide-eyed, she stepped in and closed the door, unsure of what to make of the situation. But, she thought, he'd promised… It was then that she realized that she hadn't thought to make him promise, which might have been her undoing.

While she was contemplating her next move, too shocked to feel the sting of betrayal, the toilet flushed in the little attached private bathroom. Sakura heaved a sigh of relief.

A moment later, the door opened and, rather unsteadily, Kakashi made his way out and started for the bed. Quickly, she slipped to his side to aid him back onto the bed. He smiled gratefully at her once she had settled him back into the blankets and pillows.

"Good to see you up and about, however briefly." Sakura grinned, having gotten to see more of him than he would usually allow – the hospital gowns were not known for their modesty.

He smiled faintly, glad for the company even though he was fairly certain she would soon be yelling at him about his Icha Icha collection. "I still feel like hell though," he replied.

"Yeah, well you look it – and probably will for at least the next couple of weeks."

He sighed and refrained from commenting. He knew anything he might say would either upset her or sound ungrateful.

"Oh, here, I brought you some of your things – clothes and the like." As she spoke, Sakura lifted the bag she had packed as well as the storage box for him to see.

His eye widened when he realized that she had brought his whole Icha Icha collection, and that apparently she had not looked at it since she didn't seem upset with him – yet.

Sakura then held up a fresh set of clothing from the bag. "Here, I can help you get changed if you like."

He shot her a startled look and she chuckled.

"It was only an offer Kakashi. I'll leave a change of clothes for you here," she added, placing a stack of neatly folded clothes on one of the bedside tables for him, "and, you can get changed later. Just don't try and leave now that you have clothing again, okay?"

He sighed and nodded, knowing that as much as he wanted to make a break for it, he shouldn't. Sakura was right – he was in no condition to really care for himself, and if the pink haired medic couldn't care for him in either his or her apartment, then the best place for him would be the hospital.

Sakura brightened at his response. Then, to his immediate consternation, she turned her attention to his Icha Icha collection. "So which book do you want first?" she asked, as she opened the box and pulled out a couple novels. As she did so, her eyes fell on the original manuscript. "Oh, here's the one Jiraiya wrote for you… I've been meaning to ask you if you liked it – or rather, how was it? Jiraiya wrote it just for you, so I'm sure you liked it." Sakura held the original piece of porn up for him to see before flipping it over in her hands, curious as to the content.

Wide-eyed, he reached for the manuscript, wincing at the pain that the sudden movement had caused. "Oh! You don't..."

He was too late. She had flipped open the book directly to a page holding one of the first sketches of herself. Sakura flushed upon realizing that, not only was she accurately sketched, but that she also remembered the incident in question: the hot spring vacation she had taken with Ino, Tenten and Hinata. Although, strangely enough, none of them were in the drawing with her. Shocked and absolutely mortified, she pulled her gaze away to look at the man in front of her, her cheeks turning a dark shade of red.

"K-Kakashi... this, this is..." She couldn't complete her thought – the very idea that Jiraiya would choose to draw her had left the pink haired woman speechless. She had suspected that he might _try_ something of the sort, but hadn't quite thought he would really _do_ it, never mind faithfully represent her likeness down to the smallest detail.

Kakashi acted fast, knowing that if he didn't the damage would be almost irreparable; he snagged the novel from her loose grasp with another wince of pain. "You?" he effortlessly interjected, knowing that he would have only one chance to smooth this over in such a way that he wouldn't damage his current relationship with the volatile kunoichi. "Yes, I remember you mentioning that you thought Jiraiya might do something like that… Knowing his sense of humor, I'd have been surprised if he hadn't You _did_ ask him to write a book for me, after all." He smiled a little as her face turned an even deeper shade of red and promptly decided that he would be wise to continue speaking before she could think and react. He was also feeling very thankful that she had found one of the least dangerous pictures in the manuscript. He quailed to think of trying to explain some of the later drawings to the surprised kunoichi… and feared for the Sannin's life if she should ever see the action illustrations at the end of the story. "It's quite an artistic sketch really, more so than his usual stuff," Kakashi added allowing himself a quick look at the drawing as he gestured to it. "I would have to guess it's because he respects you more…"

"B-but, I'm not… I'm not Icha Icha material…" Sakura said, shaking her head. "I mean, look at me."

As she then gestured to her non-Tsunade-like proportions, Kakashi had a hard time not allowing his eye to rest anywhere too long as his gaze automatically followed her hands. He laughed, and quickly turned it into a cough when she shot a startled look at him. "Sakura," he answered unable to suppress all of his amusement, "not everyone appreciates a woman with the Hokage's figure…"

She felt her cheeks heat again, and avoided Kakashi's gaze – it was quite an unexpected compliment coming from the generally stoic man. "But, Jiraiya drew _me_ nearly naked in a book for _you_…" She trailed off as the implication finally hit her. Wide-eyed, she turned her eyes back to Kakashi's. "He drew _me_ for _you_? Why the hell would he do that?"

As casually as he could, Kakashi ignored the pain and shrugged, correctly concluding that now probably wasn't the right time to tell her of the perverted old man's suspicions. "I've no idea… If I had to guess, I'd say it was because you asked him to write something for me and he read a little too much into your request. He probably even thought that he was doing you a favor, helping you confess or something."

She stood still for a moment or two, considering what he had said. Finally, she shook her head, still a little unsure, but feeling better nonetheless. After all, Kakashi had kept the book, even though it had included a sketch of her nearly naked; on a deeper level, she found that she was feeling a little pleased that he hadn't rid himself of it as soon as possible. Although, a certain Sannin would have to watch out the next time she came across him – there were definitely a couple of things that she wanted to discuss with him...

Nevertheless, though her anger was temporarily assuaged, her curiosity was not; she couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you burn it? Or, at the very least, tell me?"

He chuckled a little at how fast she had moved on after accepting his explanation – something for which he was very grateful since there were plenty of holes in it if she had bothered to stop and actually think about it. "Are you kidding?" he answered, "Seeing how you reacted right now, do you think I would _want_ to be the one to tell you?" He could see a little doubt in her eyes and added hastily, "Or, would you tell me that Jiraiya had given you nude pictures of me?" Immediately, Kakashi mentally cursed himself – he hoped she wouldn't notice that he had said 'nude' instead of 'nearly-nude' and said 'picture_s'_ instead of 'picture.'

Sakura's cheeks heated again in surprise – the thought of the legendary pervert giving her nude pictures of Kakashi was more appealing to her than she felt it should be. Hastily, she brushed those thoughts aside. "Oh… I guess not… But that doesn't explain why you didn't just burn it or something."

He shook his head and smiled faintly. "It was a gift from an important person. I couldn't do that."

"_Kakashi_!" Sakura exclaimed, though she also laughed, not able to take his statement seriously.

He chuckled again and decided it would be okay to tease her a little. "Besides," he added with a hint of mischief in his voice, "I quite like it."

Startled, she stopped laughing and eyed him – she was unsure what to make of his statement.

"I really like the way Jiraiya captured the natural beauty," he said then. "The rocks, the trees, and even the way the light reflects off the water." Kakashi didn't duck, even though he knew the swat was coming.

"Pervert." Sakura muttered, as she smiled and gently smacked his arm.

~*~*~*~

"Kakashi, this is the last time! If Sakura catches me I'm a dead man!" whined Naruto, as he handed over the packed lunch he had picked up for his former sensei. It was the fifth time that week that the blonde man had been talked into making a covert food run.

"Thanks Naruto." Kakashi smiled with appreciation at the younger man. "You know the food here is terrible… and, I don't think Sakura would actually kill you… maybe smack you around a little, but, I'm fairly certain that she'd heal you after."

"Yeah yeah…" Naruto waved his hand dismissively, already knowing that Kakashi would somehow manage to convince him to bring more food the next day. "You're right about the food, though. It's awful! Even worse than Sakura's and that's hard to do!" The blonde man snickered a little, then quickly sobered as he remembered a particularly bad meal. "She'd still be very upset with me if she knew I was sneaking food in for you…" he added with a bit of apprehension tinting his voice. "Hospital food is supposed to be good for you… full of, um, stuff that you need to get better and, um, stuff. That's why it tastes so bad… Gee, I wonder if Sakura's cooking is full of the same stuff? That'd explain why it tastes the way it does…"

Kakashi chuckled and refrained from correcting his former student – he knew that if Naruto or anyone else were to find out that Sakura could cook, and was actually pretty good at it, his convenient set up of mooching off the pink haired woman would be at an end. He had to admit to himself, it had been a slippery slope, but after (fairly) regularly receiving homemade meals from the capable kunoichi for a couple months… he found the experience to be something he did not want to give up. There was just something so completely normal about it and, to a man who had spent most of his life on guard and in extraordinary situations, he had to admit that sitting down to a homemade meal was now something that was incredibly appealing to him.

~*~*~*~

Sakura sighed as she finally made her way back into the high security ward where Kakashi was staying. It had been a tiring day but she had still been determined to stop by his room before heading home for the evening. From what she knew, Tsunade had not had a chance to check up on Kakashi yet and, as far as Sakura was concerned, he was still her patient unless the Hokage told her differently.

After reading all of Shizune's notes on Kakashi's file in more depth, Sakura had gone looking for the busty blonde medic. However, she had been surprised to find that, having put so much effort into healing Kakashi, Tsunade had herself ended up hospitalized for a couple days. And, unfortunately, in those couple days, enough day-to-day business had piled up that the Sannin hadn't been able to leave the Hokage Tower.

As Sakura was rethinking the seriousness of Kakashi's injuries – and just how close he had come to dying this time – she found herself at his door. Hastily, she shook the thoughts from her mind and knocked briskly before entering.

Upon stepping into the room, she found that she had disturbed a little get-together. Genma and Kurenai were gathered about Kakashi's bed, and in the middle of what appeared to be a very animated discussion.

Genma looked up with a self-satisfied grin. "Well, speak of the devil… Or, should I say- umph." The brown haired shinobi grunted and rubbed his side where Kurenai had elbowed him.

"Nice to see you Sakura," said the red eyed woman. "We were just on our way out." She smiled at the younger kunoichi as she pulled the lecherous man along with her toward the door. "Take care," she then called to Kakashi before waving and slipping through the door.

Genma followed a bit more reluctantly with a wide grin. "See ya Kakashi… don't do anything I-" Once again, he was abruptly cut off (presumably by Kurenai) as he suddenly disappeared from their sight.

A little surprised, Sakura turned to Kakashi. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Eh-heh, no, no… nothing. It was nothing. Don't worry about it." Feeling a bit embarrassed, (and realizing that Sakura was giving him a strange look) Kakashi lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. Her timing had been perfect, he reflected ruefully – she would enter just as his letch of a friend had really gotten going about Kakashi's relationship with the pink haired medic. It had been the first time Kurenai had heard any of it and, unfortunately, she had been both interested and encouraging. The two shinobi had obviously wanted him to make some sort of a move in regard to Sakura. But, Kakashi had disagreed – it wasn't something he was prepared to do. In fact, judging by how she had reacted to his serious injuries, he was even more convinced that she would be better off not knowing.

~*~*~*~

The door to the hospital room flew open with a bang, rousing the sleeping patient within. The Hokage then marched in, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Ah, Kakashi, you're awake," she said. "Good."

Wondering how he could possibly have slept through such an entrance, Kakashi settled on a non-committal grunt to show that he was listening rather than a comment that would probably only further irritate her.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" she asked, obviously beyond annoyed with him.

"Sleeping-" he started to say before she interrupted him.

"Not _now,_ you idiot! Accepting that mission – it was suicide!"

"Ah, that," he answered. "It was an order, Hokage, and we both know I never refuse…" His mind flickered back to when he _had_ turned down missions because of his concern for Sakura. "The important missions," he hastily added, knowing Tsunade would be quick to point out the discrepancy if he didn't reference it himself.

Tsunade shook her head angrily, seeing no actual flaw with his statement. He was, after all, a shinobi of the village and it was his _duty_ to perform missions as they are assigned to him – even if it might result in his death.

"Do you even know how badly off you were when you got here?" she then barked.

Cautiously, he shook his head, knowing that if he tried to tell her that he _had_ known just how close to death he had been, it would only make her even angrier. The fact that he had done the nearly impossible in dragging himself all the way back in the first place would be of no help to him either.

"Damn it, Kakashi!" she yelled. "I nearly lost you, _more than once_… your heart even stopped at one point! I've never seen someone return to the village under their own power in the condition you were in… I don't think anyone will ever manage to match the feat, and that's _not_ something to be proud of."

She eyed him for a moment; then, she sighed as she realized that he did know just how close he had come. But, he really couldn't say that he regretted doing what he had been ordered to do without committing some vague form of treason.

Feeling frustrated, Tsunade huffed, more to herself than to her patient, and decided to tip her hand a little. "Kakashi," she said, "you might have written your life off as something that will be lost for the sake of the village, but I have other plans for you."

"_What_?" he couldn't help but ask with considerable surprise.

She smiled at having caught him off guard; this might go better than she had thought. "Sasuke doesn't know yet, but his girlfriend is pregnant."

The silver haired man raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been aware that his former student was even dating anyone, never mind seriously enough to get the woman pregnant.

Tsunade decided to continue, seeing as how she now definitely had his undivided attention. "It got me thinking…"

Suspecting that he knew where the older woman was going, Kakashi interrupted. "One team was enough. I'm too old-"

"Yes, you are," she agreed, then smirked at his surprise. "When the time comes, if I'm still around, I'll be assigning that particular team to someone else…" she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Regardless, your expertise with your Sharingan will be invaluable in training the kid when it becomes necessary. Sasuke isn't exactly the patient teacher type – well, not that you really are either, but he's even less so than you. Nevertheless, I'd like to make sure that you're around for it. Anyway, as I was saying, all of that got me thinking about how Sasuke will no longer be the last of the Uchiha – which is a good thing since it would be a terrible loss to the village to lose his bloodline. And, it also reminded me that there are a couple of other old ninja clans hanging around on the verge of extinction." She looked at him meaningfully, not really wanting to spell it out for the last Hatake.

Kakashi was stunned at what the Hokage might be suggesting – especially since she clearly suspected that he had feelings for her former apprentice. Wide-eyed, he stared at the older woman, unable to form words.

Satisfied that she had planted a seed in his mind, Tsunade shrugged and decided to continue in a slightly different vein. "I've made a decision about your rank and standing. This will be retroactive, as of the moment you stepped foot back into the village." She smiled with barely concealed enjoyment. "I've reinstated your ANBU status and promoted you to senior ops."

Kakashi's eye widened again. He had never expected to be thrust back into ANBU full-time. He had expected the occasional mission here and there, since no one ever really left ANBU. But, to be full ANBU again was more than surprising, especially considering his age – never mind the fact that he had also just been given a rank that few ever achieved. ANBU was a dangerous and demanding status; as a consequence, few, like himself, made it out intact and even fewer survived within the organization long enough to obtain a senior status. Kakashi's ever agile mind also did not fail to notice that with his new status the only person who could order him out on a mission was Tsunade herself.

He shrewdly guessed that she had no intentions of sending him off on a kamikaze assignment anytime soon.

The Hokage wasn't finished. "I also noticed, while going through your files, that you have never taken any leave time," she said then. "Although I cannot order you on vacation, as a medic, I strongly advise you to take some time off once I release you from the hospital. Almost thirty years without a vacation is too much for anyone, even you." Then, sensing that she might have overloaded the elite shinobi, she shrugged again. "Think about it, Kakashi – you're going to have plenty of time before I let you out of here anyway... weeks at the very least."

He straightened on hearing this, readying a protest. Kakashi hadn't thought that he might be detained at the hospital for quite _that_ long. Granted, any protests he may have would only come out for appearances sake, since he already knew that no matter what he had to say about it, Tsunade would win in the end. Still, it just didn't suit him to accept having to stay in the hospital for an extended amount of time without _some_ sort of token resistance. Before he could put voice to an objection, however, the Hokage interjected.

"Don't even try to fight it Kakashi, or attempt to get your medic to sign you out," Tsunade said with a hint of warning. "Generally, Sakura can override any medic where you are concerned – that is, any medic _except _me. You're staying put – sedated and restrained again if necessary – until I say you're fit to leave." She eyed him for a moment and, sensing that there was still a bit of annoyance left in the stubborn man, she decided to give him something else to think about. "So long as you behave, your medic is free to care for you – but, if you should even _think _of going against medical orders, I'll pull her from you and it'll be back to restraints and sedatives for you."

Furious for just a moment, Kakashi glared at her. Then, he sighed and flopped back down onto the bed, resigning himself to a long stay in the hospital. Deep down, he knew that Tsunade was right, and that he did need to spend some quality time recuperating.

The Hokage nodded, satisfied that the silver haired shinobi wouldn't be trying to make a break for it any time soon. She then took her leave, knowing that she had just given the stubborn man quite a lot to think about.

Kakashi ignored Tsunade's exit, having too many other things on his mind. As he forcibly relaxed himself, his thoughts returned to some of what Tsunade had said, and he couldn't quite stop himself from wondering if Sakura wanted kids.

~*~*~*~

Wearily, Sakura made her way home. It had been a long and very busy day at the hospital. So busy, in fact, that she hadn't been able to make time to visit her special patient. Not that he really needed anything from her, she mused – he was more than ready to be released, although Tsunade was dragging her feet. Silently, the pink haired woman had to applaud the older woman. Kakashi might be healthy now, but he could still use a little time off.

Thinking about it, she had to wonder why her former sensei had behaved himself for so long. The last time she had checked in on him, he had been doing push-ups next to his hospital bed – she hadn't quite been able to scold him for it since he was healthy enough for the exercise (though she had refused to sit on his back). Obviously, Sakura concluded, Kakashi was starting to go a little stir crazy. Yet, he had stayed put – without the assistance of restraints and/or sedatives.

Upon finding herself at her apartment door, she brushed all thoughts of Kakashi from her mind – something that was getting harder and harder for her to do – and turned her attention to what she would have for dinner. It was late, she was tired and, as much as she enjoyed cooking, Sakura just was not in the mood to go all out on her evening meal. Resolutely, she decided to go with the instant ramen she kept on hand for just such an occasion.

Sighing, she made her way into the kitchen and began rummaging around in her cupboards. After a couple of minutes searching, she produced several different flavors of the generally noxious stuff. As she was trying to decide which one looked the most appetizing (none of them), someone knocked on her balcony door.

Hastily, she turned and saw her former sensei standing outside with a couple bags in his hands. Curious, she opened the door to let him in.

"'Evening Sakura." Kakashi smiled at her expression.

Once the surprise had worn off, Sakura wondered what he was up to – and, more importantly, why he wasn't in the hospital. "Hi Kakashi…" she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckled as he correctly guessed the reason for her confusion. "Bringing you dinner," he replied.

She shook her head, unable to make any sense of it. "Eh?"

He raised the bags he was holding. "Dinner. I thought you might be too tired to cook tonight, so I figured I'd bring you something." He eyed the ramen on her counter. "And, from the looks of things, I'm right on time for once."

After suffering through weeks of hospital food, Kakashi had originally intended to show up just as she was making dinner that evening in order to secure a nice, home-cooked meal. But, after his release from the hospital he had gone looking for her and, upon finding her extremely busy and showing no signs of slowing down, he hadn't had the heart to demand a meal from her. Instead, he had gone to one of her favorite take-out places; then, dinner having been secured, he had made his way home. Once there, he had comfortably stationed himself by a window and, with the latest Icha Icha for company, had patiently waited for the light to turn on in the apartment across the street.

She eyed him suspiciously. Such a gesture wasn't exactly unlike him… but, it wasn't quite like him, either. "Kakashi-" she started, deciding just to come out and ask him why he wasn't in the hospital – and if the food was some sort of bribe to keep him from getting into too much trouble.

The elite jonin knew what she was going to say and hastily interrupted her. "Before you ask, Tsunade released me this morning"

Finally, she smiled at the silver haired man. He might fib on occasion, or tell incomplete truths, but he never lied outright. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome." He grinned a bit, sensing that she had accepted his explanation. Then, he put the bags on her table and seated himself, happy to be sharing a meal with her again.

Automatically, Sakura pulled out plates, glasses, utensils, a pitcher of water and, after a moment's hesitation, a bottle of wine someone had given to her as an apartment warming gift.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but was still pleased nonetheless. "What's the occasion?" he asked.

She grinned. "I heard that you got a promotion, Mr. Senior ANBU Operative…"

~*~*~*~

Casually, Kakashi sauntered into the Hokage's office a good thirty minutes late – which was actually fairly early by his standards. He chalked it up to guilt over his feelings for Sakura. It was becoming harder and harder for him to ignore said feelings, and he really wasn't sure what to do. But, he couldn't quite convince himself that this was okay – that he deserved a little bit of happiness in his rather lonely life. Sakura was just too good for him, and he knew it.

Still, no matter how often he told himself of this lately he had found that he couldn't help but hope.

Without looking up from a complicated medical text, Tsunade tossed a small mission scroll to the silver haired man now standing in front of her. He caught and automatically opened it, then quickly skimmed through the contents. After a moment, he blinked and looked back up at the woman before him. "Again?" he asked, his tone one of mild disbelief.

She sighed, marked her place and then glanced up to study the elite shinobi. "Yes, _again,_" she answered. "I've no idea why that man keeps running out on his publishers. But, so long as they're paying good money, who are we to refuse?" Tsunade shook her head in slight disbelief at Jiraiya's continued lack of maturity. "I'm sending you out alone on this one… and don't get distracted. You've a perfectly capable kunoichi who," she eyed Kakashi speculatively, "I'm sure, will be waiting for you to come home."

He opened his mouth to protest… then closed it, not sure what he could say. Tsunade obviously had guessed how he felt for Sakura, so denying it would accomplish nothing. Even more amazing to him, however, was this new discovery that the Hokage considered a match between him and his former student to be a foregone conclusion – that, apparently, she expected him to see his chance and take it without hesitation.

This was an entirely unfamiliar idea to Kakashi – that he would end up with Sakura regardless of whether he deserved her or not. With this new train of thought on the tracks, he nodded and turned to leave. However, as his hand hovered over the door handle, the Hokage called out to him.

"Oh, Kakashi…?"

Wondering what else she could possibly have to say that would merit the self-satisfied smugness he could hear in her voice, he turned back to her. As expected, he was facing a smirking Hokage.

"If you leave tonight," she said, "you might just have enough of a jump on Jiraiya that you could be back in a couple of days rather than a couple of weeks… You don't want to make her wait _too_ long or she might get tired of waiting." The blonde woman snorted to herself as she said this, knowing that Sakura would do no such thing, but figuring that Kakashi might need an extra shove in the right direction.

Tsunade chuckled once the door clicked shut – all of her poking and pushing at the stubborn man finally seemed to be paying off. She was fairly certain that he would be leaving the village as soon as possible, with the intention of returning quickly and, she hoped, maybe finally make some sort of overt move on his pink haired former student.

~*~*~*~

With a sigh, Sakura entered her office. It had been a long day – and had been made even longer by an unexpected shift in the emergency care center. Nevertheless, she fully intended to catch up on a little paperwork before going home for the night.

Absently, she sat down and started pulling folders and papers out; then, she realized that there was something different about her desk. Blinking, she actually took a moment to look at the desktop and saw that, sitting there, was a small (obviously jewelry) box waiting to be opened.

Almost hesitantly, Sakura lifted the box, noting as she did so that it wasn't sealed and that Kakashi had clearly labeled it: To Sakura, From Kakashi. Surprised, she stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to do, for she had never expected him to actually come out and publicly claim responsibility for one of the gifts he gave her. If it got around (and who knows how long it had sat on her desk before she had found it) the villagers might guess that he had been playing the part of her secret admirer – and, she wasn't sure how she felt about that… or what his intentions were. Shaking her head a little, she cleared her mind and opened the box.

Sakura gasped upon seeing the contents: a beautiful silver torc. It was fairly flat and plain, but matched the arm band Kakashi had already given to her. Gently, she removed it from the tissue paper to examine it, and a small scrap of paper fluttered back down into the box.

Curious, she picked up the paper and read:

_It's a little late, but Happy Belated Everything I've missed. Thought this would go nicely with the arm band. It's also a kunoichi tool, stores chakra, and can come in handy in a tight spot. Tsunade can show you how it works. _

Kakashi hadn't signed it but, then again, he didn't have to – he'd labeled the gift as from him. For a moment, she simply sat with her mouth open, and stared at the gorgeous piece of jewelry as she tried to make her mind work. Kakashi had just given her a necklace, as her secret admirer, but not anonymously… why? She shook her head as she struggled to make sense of it.

Still wondering about the Copy Ninja's motives, Sakura closed the box and, deciding that her paperwork could wait after all, set out to find the Hokage. At the same time, she was hoping that Tsunade wouldn't make too big of a deal out of the gift. Though, why Kakashi couldn't show her how to use the torc himself she wasn't sure. If he knew what it did, shouldn't he know how to use it?

Several minutes later found her outside Tsunade's office in Hokage Tower. Calmly, she knocked, knowing that the Hokage would still be in her office – she might be a little tipsy, but she would still be in the office. Then, without waiting, Sakura opened the door and entered.

Tsunade glanced up from a large stack of scrolls and smiled upon finding the pink haired woman standing in her doorway.

"Hello Sakura. Why are you here so late?" the Hokage asked, the falsely sweet tone in her voice making it obvious that she was readying an excuse to get the younger women to help with her paperwork.

Suddenly feeling a little less sure of herself, the pink haired medic hesitated a little. "Er, well…"

Wanting to feel exasperated, but not quite able to do so, the Hokage sighed. She knew that Sakura had something to say or ask – otherwise she wouldn't have come – but, for some strange reason, the younger woman couldn't quite spit it out. "If it's about that former sensei of yours, I sent him out earlier today," said Tsunade. "He should be back in a week or so, depending on how things go."

"Oh, er, um…" Sakura trailed off, feeling a little surprised. That hadn't been the question she had wanted answered, although it had been something she had wanted to know. "Thanks, but that wasn't…"

Now curious, the blonde woman shook her head and gestured for the younger kunoichi to continue – Tsunade had been positive that Sakura had come to inquire about Kakashi. "Spit it out Sakura. I don't have all evening, and these scrolls aren't going to approve themselves."

"Oh! Right, well…" Instead of putting words to her question, Sakura held up the jewelry box Kakashi had left for her. "I was hoping you could help me with this…"

Tsunade's eyes widened as she immediately guessed where Sakura had obtained the box. "Let me see," she said, holding out her hand.

Suddenly feeling unexplainably nervous, Sakura slipped closer to her mentor and deposited Kakashi's gift in the blonde woman's outstretched hand. Without further ado, Tsunade opened the box and a slow smile spread across her face.

"Kakashi gave you this?" the Hokage asked, already knowing the answer.

Surprised, Sakura nodded. "Yes, he did. How did you guess?"

The older woman chuckled a little and manipulated the necklace in her hands for a couple moments, obviously looking for something. "This…" she said, as she stopped shifting the necklace and pointed at a small mark on the inside of the clasp.

Unsure what to make of it all, Sakura bent closer to the torc and gasped in surprise. Etched into the clasp were the characters spelling out, 'Hatake.' Hastily, she looked back up at Tsunade in askance, her expression making it clear that she didn't understand.

The older woman smiled. "It was his grandmother's."

"But, it matches the armband he already gave me so perfectly!"

Doing her best not to laugh at Sakura's incomprehension, Tsunade grinned. "Exactly."

Understanding finally dawned on the younger medic, and she quite suddenly found herself in need of a seat.


	30. Chapter Thirty: So Close Yet So Far

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Well, I've moved, changed jobs and finally been able to settle in a bit. Apologies for taking so long but real life hasn't been conducive to writing as of late so I just haven't been able to sit down to write. Since the rest of the fic is pretty much written I hope to get them up at a more reasonable rate.

Thank you so much to my fantastic beta! I'd probably have given up long ago without your encouragement and aid! Huge thanks to those who have been reading and patiently waiting for this chapter – hope it doesn't disappoint!

~*~*~*~

Chapter Thirty: So Close – Yet So Far

Sakura blew on her tea a little to cool the hot beverage before taking a sip and glancing up at her friend. Upon noticing that Ino was staring at her intently, the pink haired woman sighed and put down her teacup.

"What?" she asked, with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"You still haven't answered my question yet." Ino stated flatly, before she took a sip from her own cup of tea.

Playing dumb, Sakura toyed with her cup. "And, what question would that be?" she asked.

Unable to help herself, the blonde woman rolled her eyes. "You know very well which question… so spill."

Sakura sighed again. "It's just the same as the last couple times you've asked me – I still don't know." She took another sip of tea, this time without blowing on it, then hissed on realizing that it was still too hot.

"You know, it's a simple yes or no question." The blonde kunoichi eyed her friend curiously, wondering if she was trying to hide something or if the medic truly didn't know what she wanted to do. Sakura was being incredibly silly about the whole thing as far as Ino could tell.

"The actual answer itself might be simple… but, it's what goes with it that concerns…" Sakura cautiously took another sip of her tea, "and confuses me."

Feeling exasperated, Ino shook her head. "Either you wear it or not, it's a fairly simple matter, really. Besides, you're still wearing that armband he gave you…"

The pink haired kunoichi's hand rose and almost defensively, she gently touched the piece of jewelry. "That's different."

"Oh? How's that?" Ino asked with some amusement. Sakura had given her heart away with that automatic action.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably under the blonde's interested gaze, unable to explain why she couldn't remove the armband without admitting that she really wanted to wear the necklace as well. "It just is, okay?"

Ino laughed, wondering how her former rival couldn't see how ridiculous she was being. "Well then, it should still be a fairly simple matter; can't wear one without the other, eh?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "No, it's not. It's, it's not that easy…"

"What part of it makes it so hard? It's a beautiful necklace, from – I might add – one really hot man. I say you should just wear it, and to hell with any consequences." Ino shrugged and took another sip of her tea. She knew that her friend really wanted to wear the necklace, but couldn't seem to justify it in her mind.

"Ino…" Sakura growled warningly, once again putting down her cup of tea. It was getting more and more difficult to convince herself not to wear Kakashi's latest gift, regardless of the signals it could send.

"For the love of all things shinobi…" The blonde woman sighed. "Sakura, you told me yourself not too long ago that you thought you had feelings for the man. I suspected before, but now I'm pretty sure that he returns those feelings – I mean, just look at that torc! It's a _family_ piece! He wouldn't have given it to you if he didn't care for you more than as a friend or colleague. Wear the necklace so he'll have a clear indication as to how you feel when he returns. If you're not wearing it when he comes back…"

The pink haired medic sighed, knowing where Ino was going with her line of logic. After all, she had already spent quite a lot of time thinking it through. Absently, she pulled the necklace out of her purse to look at it. She'd been carrying it around with her since receiving it, unable to leave it behind when she went out. Her fingers automatically sought out the tiny print spelling: Hatake. If it wasn't for that little bit of script, she would already be wearing the necklace – it was after all, quite beautiful and actually very practical. However, the fact that the jewelry had belonged to Kakashi's grandmother muddied things somewhat, and she just wasn't sure what to think. Her confusion had been made even worse by the fact that he had been sent out on a mission. If he had been around, she could have just asked him flat out… or at least have gotten a better indication of his intent from his behavior. His note hadn't really given any indication of his motives.

Deciding to try a new vein, Ino started in on her friend again. She very much wanted Sakura to put the necklace on and be happy. "You know," she said. "people are going to start to talk if they _don't _see you wearing it… Everyone knows, you know," she added, as she eyed Sakura, who was staring miserably at the necklace in her hands. "They're going to think you've rejected him, and after all he did as your secret admirer…"

The blonde couldn't help but trail off as she remembered some of the more romantic items Kakashi had left for her friend: the bubble bath and rubber duck, the flowering cactus, the beauty products as well as that spectacular Day of Flowers (people were still talking about _that _particular event)… Ino was having a really difficult time attributing such actions to the notoriously stoic Copy Ninja. Sakura, she concluded, must have managed to flip a special switch somewhere deep inside the generally unemotional man to get him to do such things for her.

Exasperated, Sakura stuffed the necklace back into her purse. She already knew that the whole village had found out about the entire thing – no doubt her blonde friend had something to do with that – and that it was only sheer, dumb luck that had caused Naruto and Sasuke to be out of Konoha on an extended mission, something for which she was extremely grateful. They wouldn't be entering the picture for another couple months at the very earliest, leaving her to deal with it on her own first. She couldn't even begin to imagine what would have happened if her boys had been around for Kakashi's unveiling as her secret admirer.

"Look, Ino," she said a little impatiently, "I've told you, and a million other people, it had nothing to do with romance! He was just having a bit of fun at my expense, that's all… You saw how everyone reacted the first time he left me a little gift; it amused him so he did it again, and again, just to enjoy how riled up the village became. He made a huge mess of things for me whenever he could… and, he had a great time doing it, purely for his own amusement. He has a very, er, interesting sense of humor, that's all."

"Sakura, you simply cannot tell me that the time he almost literally showered you with flowers was done just to annoy you. No one goes through _that_ much effort unless they are sincere about _something_…"

The pink haired woman felt her cheeks heat a little as she remembered both the flowers and how the day had ended with the gift of the beautiful, hand-embroidered robe. "Well, no… I suppose that time was a bit different."

Ino raised an eyebrow questioningly; this was the first time she had managed to get Sakura to talk about that over-the-top, and now almost legendary, romantic gesture. The blonde had been nearly dying of curiosity since its occurrence – the Day of Flowers was widely considered to be one of the most romantic events to happen in the village to date. Every woman envied Sakura to a certain extent for it, and most men cursed Kakashi for setting the bar almost impossibly high. "Oh?" Ino asked innocently.

Sakura sighed, having known that she would eventually give her friend the details that had led up to the floral feat. "That was an apology, ending with that beautiful robe the old woman at the hotel foisted off on him… " Sakura realized her mistake as soon as she made it and hurried on in hopes that her former rival wouldn't notice her slip – she had told no one about Kakashi's more personal gift. "… and, carefully calculated in such a way that I would simply _have_ to forgive him for setting me as the stakes in one of his bets with Guy. Nothing more – silly old man probably missed having someone around to tease, that's all."

Ino's eyes widened; she hadn't realized that things had progressed as far as they had between the rather reluctant couple. Kakashi obviously had fallen for her friend much harder than she had imagined. "Wow… Sakura, that's… just, wow." After a moment she shook her head and eyed the medic with renewed interest. "What the hell are you waiting for?"

"Eh?"

"Put the damn thing on right now. He's yours, whether you want him or not, hook, line and sinker – you're stuck. Not that it's a bad thing; there are certainly much worse out there that you could have gotten stuck with."

"Ino…" Sakura started, unsure as to how her friend had made such a huge leap of logic.

"If that's what he did for an apology… I'd hate to see you try to resist a _serious_ advance from him." Ino shook her head and eyed her friend who still hadn't moved. "What the hell are you waiting for? Just put the necklace on and we'll all feel better… At this point, I think it's just a foregone conclusion anyway."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Sakura asked, feeling a bit bewildered.

"If all that secret admirer stuff was just to tease and annoy you, except for the day of flowers, you don't stand a chance – give in now before your pride gets involved and it becomes messy." As she spoke, Ino waved her hand negligently, as if completely dismissing the matter entirely.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"That necklace, Forehead!" the blonde woman snapped, starting to get a little irritated. "If that isn't some sort of declaration of intent, then I don't know what is."

Frowning, Sakura again removed the torc from her purse and examined it. "You really think so…"

With an exasperated sigh, the blonde woman rolled her eyes. "Sakura, I _know _so." Ino nodded with a grin. She knew better – that is, Genma had told her enough so that she was able to suspect more and, now that she knew Sakura's side of the story, she was fairly positive.

Suddenly making up her mind, Sakura gave the necklace one last look then fastened it around her neck. She had, after all, really wanted to do so from the start – she just hadn't quite been able to rationalize it to herself. When Kakashi came back she would be wearing the necklace, and she would just have to wait and see what happened from there.

"Ah, _finally_…" Ino tilted her head to the side. "Looks good on you."

~*~*~*~

With a muttered curse, Kakashi continued on after a brief stop to examine the remains of a campsite – he was lagging further behind than he should have been. The old pervert _knew_, he concluded, and because he knew, he was making things difficult.

It had been two weeks now and the Icha Icha author was not making it easy for his number one fan to track him down. Kakashi had hoped that it would be a nice, fairly easy mission, given his skills and how well he knew his target. In fact it _should_ have been an easy mission – but, for some reason, Jiraiya just did not seem to want to be found, and when a sannin didn't want to be tracked, things could get remarkably difficult for the tracker. Kakashi had to wonder what Jiraiya had done this time to merit running from his publishers. Granted, the old man probably didn't need much of an excuse, but he had never avoided Kakashi quite as thoroughly as he was now, which was more than enough to make the elite shinobi a little suspicious.

Rushing his pace a bit more, Kakashi continued on into the night, feeling more than frustrated and annoyed. He had hoped to be back in Konoha – and back with Sakura – within a week at the latest. He'd given her the necklace with the intention of returning to gauge her reaction, and tell her about its origins, no later than a week or so after leaving it for her to find. By now, the whole village probably knew or, at the very least, had shrewdly guessed who Sakura's 'secret admirer' was. Kakashi could only imagine what she must be thinking without him there to offer an explanation, especially if she had discovered the tiny script branding it as belonging to the Hatake clan.

On further reflection, he wasn't even sure if she would wear it if she were to find his family name engraved on it. Or, what she would think about it. Kakashi wasn't even certain what he had been thinking when he had selected the necklace as the next piece to give to her. It was one of the most useful items, to be sure – unfortunately, it was also the only piece in the matching set that bore his clan name in an easily accessible place. Instead, he could have given her the earrings, bracelets, broach or… the ring. No… he'd already decided that the ring was out of the question.

As for giving the torc to her as her secret admirer… he couldn't quite figure why he had done that, but guessed it had something to do with the fact that he was having more and more trouble hiding his feelings from both himself and her. His recent health scare, and the less-than-subtle prodding by the Hokage, had altered his way of thinking just enough for him to give in to his desire to have more with Sakura and, perhaps, even to allow himself to pursue it… in his own time and way.

Still deep in contemplation, he pushed himself even harder to catch up with his target. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be back in the village… with Sakura.

~*~*~*~

Nervously, Sakura knocked before entering the Hokage's office. She was a little worried about the rather abrupt summons she had received at the hospital – Tsunade had not yet seen her wearing the necklace Kakashi had given to her and she was a little worried that the summons might have something to do with her new accessory. For the most part, the feedback she had been receiving from the villagers had been positive – which had surprised her. She would have expected to hear a lot of disapproval from the village given that Kakashi was fourteen years older than her, a known 'pervert' and her former sensei. Sakura could only chalk it up to either the village as a whole being more understanding than she would have thought, or the fact that Kakashi had won them over so well with the whole 'secret admirer' thing that they were more than willing to overlook some of his more obvious flaws.

As Sakura entered the office, her mentor glanced up from her paperwork; Tsunade's eyes lingered on the new piece of jewelry for a moment before glancing back down at the scroll in her hands. A small smirk played across her lips.

"Ah, Sakura," she said. "Good to see you've finally decided to put the torc on – it suits you."

Startled, the pink haired medic's hand flew to the necklace, and she felt her cheeks heat a little – she had obviously misjudged Tsunade's opinion on the matter. "Eh?"

The older woman chuckled at Sakura's apparent surprise. "You could do much worse than your former sensei."

"I-I…" Sakura started, unsure as to what she could possibly say. She hadn't expected for the Hokage to so casually mention her approval of a probable relationship between herself and Kakashi.

Tsunade waved a hand negligently, dismissing the topic. "I've a mission for you. It's not something we usually do, but they are offering to pay all the fees associated with this sort of assignment so it should be okay. In other words, they're not offering to over-pay or griping at the cost, which is what we usually get when a mission like this has been fabricated."

Finally recovering her wits, Sakura raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure what sort of mission the Hokage had in mind for her, and she wasn't sure that she liked it – at least from the sound of it. "Oh?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, let me see…" The busty medic rummaged around on her desk for a moment before pulling out a small mission scroll. "Here it is," she said, tossing it to the younger kunoichi. "It's a simple medical escort mission. A group of traders will be going by caravan through Rain, into Wind and then back. They've hired their own security, but feel that they'll need a medic on the journey as they will be going through some really rough terrain and anticipate that some of their people might get sick and injured. They are also expecting to be attacked at least once by bandits or the like, and want to have a professional on hand who can patch up their soldiers so they can keep going with minimal casualties. It will be a long and not particularly rewarding mission – I'd send someone else, but at the moment you're the most experienced in field healing that I have."

Sakura nodded. She had heard of these sorts of missions before, although they were not often assigned. Most of the time, people preferred to get more for their money by hiring shinobi teams as an escort, counting on the fact that at least one of the four (or infrequently more) would be a medic. But, on occasion, for whatever the reason, some people would rather do without an entire shinobi team and hire just a medic instead. Usually, the village would insist on sending a second shinobi as an escort/backup for the medic, unless either the mission itself or the available pool of shinobi precluded such a precaution.

"Tsunade continued. "If there is fighting, defend yourself, but you are not being paid to help defend the caravan – they are only paying to have someone deal with the after-effects of the fighting. So, whatever you do, make sure you are able to heal everyone once the fighting is done."

The younger kunoichi nodded again, having heard such instructions before. When people paid for a medic, they expected to get a medic and not a shinobi who happened to be a medic. It was an annoying restriction, but one that was necessary and part of the mission.

"You leave at first light in the morning," said the Hokage. "A representative from the caravan will meet you at the gate and accompany you to the border where they will be waiting for you. I don't anticipate this to be a particularly difficult mission, but I'd still advocate caution. If it turns out to be anything other than what has been outlined in that scroll, you have permission to abandon it and return to the village. Also, if it checks out and you have time while in Sand, check on your contacts there to see how their research is going – otherwise, try to enjoy yourself. I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks."

~*~*~*~

Kakashi sighed with relief as he entered what must have been the sixth hostess club – he had found his target, sitting in the middle of a group of very attractive young ladies. Cautiously, he made his way over to the older man, knowing that Jiraiya had intentionally allowed himself to be 'caught.' Kakashi wondered about the sudden change of heart – he had figured that he would have to run the sannin into the ground before catching up to him at the rate he had been going, so Jiraiya's sudden shift in behavior was very suspicious to say the least.

The older man caught sight of him and waved cheerily. "Ah, Kakashi, good to see you," he exclaimed with a wide grin. "It's been a while. Care to have a drink or two with me and my new friends?"

The Copy Ninja eyed the women speculatively, not particularly caring for the way they were sizing him up – he could already sense that he would be quite popular with these ladies, especially after they had spent a long period of time with Jiraiya. As lovely as the women were, and as tempting as a drink sounded, all he really wanted to do was to talk to the Icha Icha author and convince him to return to the village. Though he was still reluctant to admit it, he was really beginning to miss Sakura and just wanted to get back to her. His concerns over what she thought of the necklace had stayed at the forefront of his mind.

Kakashi smiled and shook his head in a negative. "No thanks. I was hoping to have a private word or two with you, though."

The older man eyed Kakashi shrewdly for a minute or two. "I know why you're here, and I want nothing to do with it."

"Oh, really?" the younger shinobi asked, not at all surprised – Jiraiya was a sannin after all, even if he did play the part of a foolish old man most of the time.

"Yes. Your little cherry blossom will have to catch me herself if she wants to extract some sort of revenge." Jiraiya then laughed and leaned a bit closer to Kakashi. "She's really got you whipped, boy, seeing as how she's gotten you to come out and do her dirty work for her. You've been really quite persistent. I would have thought you would have given up by now. I haven't exactly made it easy for you. But, then again…" he cocked his head to the side a little as if in thought, "I suppose that little kunoichi of yours really is worth the trouble. She is something, isn't she?" He shook his head in amusement. "Sit down and have a couple drinks, take a load off before you head back to the village. You'll probably need them when you return empty-handed."

"What?" Kakashi asked, feeling a bit bewildered at Jiraiya's long speech.

"Your pink haired medic. I'm sure she will be very upset when you return without me. You see, I'm not going with you – I have many more things I plan to do with my time before I die horribly at the hands of your precious little cherry blossom."

"Ah…" understanding finally dawned on the silver haired man. "Well then, if that's what you think, then fine – I'll head back to the village alone… It won't be _my_ medic who's disappointed with my empty-handed return, though… more like _yours_."

The older man perked up considerably at the indirect mention of the Hokage. "Your kunoichi didn't send you out to get me after catching sight of that manuscript I wrote and illustrated for you?" He narrowed his eyes skeptically. "I'd heard that you'd accidentally let her look at it and that she had some interesting plans for my guts – garters, I believe..."

Kakashi managed to refrain from chuckling – the sheer panic he had felt when he had feared that Sakura had seen the manuscript in its entirety prevented him from finding enough humor in the situation. "Nope, this has nothing to do with Sakura," he replied. "I'm here because the Hokage sent me out to find you for her own reasons."

Jiraiya eyed him suspiciously for a moment, obviously not buying his number one fan's story – although, a part of him still seemed interested and willing to listen. Mentioning Tsunade was definitely the best way to get through to the lecherous Icha Icha author.

The Copy Ninja sighed, realizing he would have to assuage Jiraiya's fears about his former student before the older man would even think about returning to the village. "Sakura only saw one of the illustrations from the manuscript you wrote, and luckily for you it was one of the earlier ones. She might want to rough you up a little, but definitely far less than what you probably deserve. I managed to convince her that you were just being your perverted self and probably meant nothing by it… she doesn't know that there were more, far less innocent, illustrations in the novel, or that it was written about her."

"Hmm… well… I'll think about it then," answered the sannin. "In the meantime, why don't you sit down and join me for a couple drinks while I make my decision. Deciding is thirsty work, right girls?" The pervert grinned at the young women who were still hanging around in the hopes that he would start buying alcohol again.

True to their profession, all of the young ladies nodded their approval, a couple obviously hoping that the younger, more mysterious man would join them. While Jiraiya was a good customer and an excellent tipper, his company and roaming hands tended to get old rather quickly.

Deciding to play along, in the hope that his compliance would pay off in having the letch voluntarily returning to the village, Kakashi shrugged and sat down for just a couple of drinks – much to the delight of not only Jiraiya, but the girls as well. The silver haired man knew he would be asking for more trouble than he really wanted if he had to try and force the sannin to return to the village against his will. Trying to persuade the older man seemed to be the best way – at least, until his patience wore thin.

~*~*~*~

Absently, Sakura swatted what felt like the millionth mosquito to bite her neck. They were definitely nearing the border of Rain, something for which she was grateful as she hadn't really enjoyed traveling alone with the slightly creepy (she couldn't quite shake the sensation that she had met him somewhere before) older man who had been sent to escort her to the caravan. So far, everything seemed to be above board; but, she couldn't manage rid herself of the feeling that something wasn't quite right. Although, just what exactly seemed off, she wasn't really able to say.

Tsunade had warned her that this type of a mission could easily be a front for something else; unfortunately, Konoha did not currently have the manpower to send someone ahead to make sure everything checked out. Sakura didn't like it, but nothing(semi cg more could be done and, for all they knew, this could very well be a legit mission – if it wasn't, she _was_ a completely capable kunoichi as well as a medic and should be able to deal with most likely situations.

As her mind wandered once again down a familiar path, she smacked her neck yet again; she was starting to get a little annoyed with the persistent insects. Feeling a little dizzy, she glanced down at her hand and foggily realized that what had fallen into her palm wasn't the crushed body of a dead mosquito.

~*~*~*~

Exhausted, but thrilled to finally be back, Kakashi slowly made his way into the village, nodding at the jonin on guard duty as he passed through the massive gates. It had taken him two and a half months, but he had finally managed to convince Jiraiya to come back… though, he did have to imply more than once that Tsunade had been the driving force behind getting him to return to Konoha. The Copy Ninja didn't really like taking advantage of the Icha Icha author's fondness for the Hokage, but by the time he had finally tracked down Jiraya he had begun to feel a little bit desperate.

With a bit of a bounce entering his step, he headed straight for Tsunade's office, intending to give his report and ascertain Sakura's whereabouts. And then, he would finally discover how she had reacted to his gift. The fact that he had been away much, much longer than he had intended concerned him a little, but he hoped it wouldn't matter in the long run.

As he walked, he could sense the people around him talking; obviously, they had heard of his latest gift to Sakura and had put one and two together. Kakashi was faintly surprised that few of the looks directed at him were hostile – he had expected more resistance to the idea of a possible relationship between Sakura and himself. He was, after all, fourteen years older than her and her former sensei. Then again, the whole village had been quite taken with the idea of Sakura's 'secret admirer,' so they were probably predisposed to like whomever it turned out to be. If nothing else, his effort with the flowers had definitely made quite an impression on everyone.

"Oh! Mr. Hatake!!" A young, girlish voice interrupted his thoughts as he was passing the hospital.

Kakashi's eye focused on the plump girl he had seen with Sakura on several occasions; he fished about in his memory for a moment and remembered her name. "Hello Mine." He smiled as he spoke, although he didn't feel like it. "What can I do for you?"

The girl giggled and grinned. "I just _knew_ it was you!" She paused, and hastily corrected herself. "I mean, _we_ knew it was you! How romantic!" The young girl squealed a little before quickly sobering up. "You'd better treat Ms. Haruno right! She deserves the best!" The blonde medic-in-training eyed him for a minute, as if to imply that she didn't think he qualified, then continued: "I still think that Mr. Uchiha would be better, or even Mr. Uzumaki… but, I suppose you'll do." She sighed and shook her head. "Besides, Ms. Haruno seems to like you better anyway."

Feeling slightly bemused, Kakashi was about to ask the girl what exactly she meant when they were interrupted by the chimes of the hospital clock striking two.

"Oh, _no_! I'm going to be late!" Mine waved at the older man and took off back toward the large medical building. "See ya, Mr. Hatake!"

Shaking his head, the jonin continued on his way to the Hokage's tower. He wondered a little at the strange encounter, but then decided that it hadn't been a bad one. Just as he was about to enter the tall building, he was hailed yet again by someone on the street.

"Oi, Kakashi!"

With a groan, he turned slowly to face his senbon-wielding friend. "Genma," he greeted the older man curtly; he was annoyed for the interruption when he was so close to completing his mission… and close to being able to track down a certain pink haired kunoichi for a little chat.

"You sneaky bastard! Sly, cunning, clever and, above all, _sneaky_, bastard!" Genma approached and slapped Kakashi's back in a congratulatory manner. "I'd no idea that you were after her all along. And, going the secret admirer route… that takes guts and a whole lot of patience. But, man, do I think it worked out for you…" He sighed, almost a little enviously.

"Genma, I-" Kakashi started, only to be interrupted as a blonde woman stuck her head out the window of an intimate apparel shop a little way down the street.

"Oh, Genma? I thought you wanted to see me in the blue one…" Though he couldn't see it, Kakashi could easily hear the pout in her words. "Oh, is that Kakashi? I wanted to have a word with him." The head retreated back into the shop – both men quickly realized that she was on her way to the door.

Hastily, Genma removed himself from his friend. "Er, gotta go…" With a quick wave, he rushed back to the shop before Ino could step out into the street and give _everyone_ the chance to see her in 'the blue one.'

Kakashi chuckled, guessing that Genma probably hadn't realized what he had gotten himself into – Ino had been quite expertly toying with him for some time now and, as far as he could see, Genma was none the wiser. In fact, he was happily playing the parts she chose for him. Kakashi had to wonder when she would put his friend out of his misery.

He was still deep in thought as he entered the Hokage's tower and, almost before he knew it, the Copy Ninja found himself outside Tsunade's office. With a sigh of relief, he knocked and entered.

Tsunade glanced up from her paperwork with a frown that melted somewhat upon finding the silver haired shinobi standing before her. "Ah, Kakashi," she huffed. "You're back – _finally_."

"Eh, heh, sorry about that," he answered sheepishly, a hand automatically lifting to the back of his neck. "I had some trouble convincing Jiraiya to come back."

She sighed, knowing just how difficult Jiraiya could be sometimes, and nodded. "But, he has come back and will see his publishers?"

"Yes…" He hesitated, wondering if he should mention to her that he had led the Icha Icha author to believe that Tsunade herself was the one who wanted him back in the village, then decided not to mention it. She would find out soon enough and it hadn't exactly been a lie, since she _did_ want him back… technically.

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment, wondering what he wasn't telling her before shaking her head and deciding that she didn't want to know. "Right. I've no missions for you right now, but will summon you when I do."

Kakashi turned to take his leave, doing his best not to make it too obvious that he was going to rush off to find Sakura. She wasn't in the Hokage's office, so he concluded that she was either at the hospital or at home; if she wasn't there, then she was likely out with some of her girlfriends at one of the teahouses near either the hospital or her apartment.

"Kakashi, one minute please," Tsunade called out, preventing the younger man from leaving.

He turned slowly, not sure what the older woman might have to say but guessing it wasn't good – she only ever used that particular tone when she was sure she was about to tell him something he wouldn't like.

"Before you waste your time looking for her, Sakura's out on a mission. I expect her to return shortly."

"Oh, really?" Disappointment filled Kakashi. It hadn't even occurred to him that Sakura might be out of the village on a mission. "That's too bad then…" the silver haired man trailed off. He wanted details, of course: where she went, why and, most importantly, with whom. However, past experience told him he would get nothing from Tsunade. Instead of asking, he sighed to himself and took another step toward the door, then paused as he realized that the Hokage hadn't mentioned how Sakura had reacted to his latest gift and, more importantly, if she had decided to wear it. Of course, he could ask… but that would give Tsunade too much satisfaction.

The Hokage smirked, correctly reading the intensely private man's cause for hesitation. "Yes, she was wearing it, Kakashi," she answered drily, "_and, _she knows where you got it. I believe you're going to have to do some fast talking when she returns… But, all in all, I'd say she was very pleased."

He swallowed, unsure if he should try and feign ignorance or own up to his action. Then, while he was debating with himself, the Hokage moved on to other topics.

"Ah, almost forgot." The busty blonde woman rummaged around on her desk for a moment. "These started to arrive for you after you'd been gone a couple weeks – about one each week." Tsunade held a stack of letters out to him. "Guess they don't have your home address."

Preoccupied, he turned and walked back to her to take the letters before exiting the office. As he left the building, Kakashi wondered where he would head next seeing as how his medic wasn't around for him to bother. All of the preliminary plans he had made for the rest of the day had revolved around her. Automatically, he found his feet taking him back to his own apartment – he began looking forward to a nice shower and possibly spending some quality time with the original Icha Icha manuscript, along with the "extra" materials. Later, he decided, he might drop in on his local pub for a couple drinks and to see how Genma was faring with Ino.

~*~*~*~

As soon as he entered his apartment, Kakashi dropped the letters on his coffee table along with his regular mail and proceeded to take a shower, start his laundry and think of what he would have for dinner. Originally, he had intended to mooch dinner from Sakura – obviously, he would have to rethink that course of action. Since food was scarce in his kitchen, he would either have to go grocery shopping and make dinner or just go out and grab some takeout (the latter option seemed much more appealing.)

Once he had finished his usual back-from-a-mission chores, he dug out Icha Icha Inviolable and settled himself on his couch. If he couldn't see the real Sakura, he reasoned, then the paper one would have to do. Just as he was about to crack open the manuscript, his eye fell on his neglected mail. With a sigh, he decided that he should at least take a look through it before settling down with his favorite book.

Quickly, Kakashi sorted through bills, junk mail and standard correspondence, then noticed the small stack of letters he had picked up at Tsunade's office. For a moment he stared at them, having forgotten that the Hokage had given them to him – shrugging, he slit open the oldest. When he removed the letter from its envelope, a Polaroid slipped out and onto his lap.

Ignoring the letter for a moment, he picked up the photo. A quick glance at the picture turned into a wide-eyed stare before he hastily read the letter and then tore into the other seven.

~*~*~*~

"Kakashi? What are you doing here so late at night?" Tsunade asked, staring at the obviously agitated man with some surprise as he hopped into her office via the window.

Ignoring her question, he posed one of his own. "That offer for taking some time off still valid?"

"Of course, of course, what's all this about?" she answered, frowning. Kakashi was acting distinctly unlike himself and she was beginning to get concerned. "Why do you need time off all of a sudden?"

Without a word – he was too angry to put any voice to his thoughts – Kakashi dropped a couple of Polaroids on her desk and waited.

Curious, Tsunade scooped up the photos. A moment later, her desk lay splintered into tiny fragments, her shaking fist still hovering in the air where the surface of her desk had been.

"I'll give you two weeks." Her voice shook with rage. "Then, I send out every able-bodied shinobi in the village."

Kakashi nodded and slipped off his forehead protector – he didn't need it since he wasn't going out on official village business. This time it was personal.


	31. Chapter ThirtyOne:Rock and a Hard Place

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: So, here's the proof that I haven't lost interest or abandoned this fic! Admittedly, this update is long overdue but there are just some things that are beyond my (or anyone's) control. That said, I've no idea when I'll get the next chapter up. I'll do my best to post as soon as I can, I just don't know when that will be.

Many, many thanks to my beta moderndayportia – you know I'd never get this up without your help! And, seriously I'm only as good as my beta as I know how much work you've had to put into this! Thank you! Loads of thanks to my readers and reviewers for waiting ever so (im)patiently for this chapter. I hope it was worth waiting for! As always, happy reading!

~*~*~*~

Chapter Thirty-One: Rock and a Hard Place

Kakashi quickly gathered a variety of supplies and sealed them into scrolls. He wanted to travel light, but not unprepared, so he armed himself with more than his usual range of weapons. He would leave absolutely nothing up to chance with Sakura's life at stake. Once he had everything he needed, the elite shinobi briefly stopped by the records office and then headed straight for the gate, this time not bothering to return the comments made by the jonin on duty.

As soon as Kakashi was out of the visual range of the village, he stopped to summon all the working members of his ninken pack. He couldn't remember the last time that he had called everyone, though, he had intended to do so sometime in the near future for an entirely different, much happier reason. With his fingers working quickly through the signs, Kakashi fervently hoped that he would still have the chance.

Abruptly arriving in a puff of smoke, Pakkun sharply surveyed his surroundings before focusing his puzzled attention on Kakashi. The pug had expected the entire pack to be summoned for something special, however, he quickly noted that none of the pups had been called – just the ninken on active duty were present. They were there for a more serious reason.

"_All_ of us?" the little dog asked with some surprise.

"Yes, _all_ of you." Kakashi growled, not even trying to keep his tone civil. "It's urgent. I need you to find Sakura – she came by this way two months ago. Fan out and keep pace with me as I travel on the road. She went missing somewhere between here and the border of Rain. Find where she left the path and where she went from there."

"You want us to find Sakura?" Pakkun asked incredulously. He knew that Kakashi had recently become more protective of his former student – hence the reason the jonin had been planning to give Sakura one or two of the dogs who were more interested in a domestic lifestyle than that of a summons – but this seemed excessive. "You summoned all of us here for _this_?" he grumbled. "What, is she avoiding you again? You two have an argument or something?"

"No, she was abducted." Kakashi snapped tersely. "Stop complaining and get to work – this is an emergency." Unable to stand still any longer, the silver-haired man took off down the road, trusting his dogs to follow.

Quickly overcoming their surprise, all of the dogs scampered into the underbrush to begin searching for traces of Sakura's scent. They did not need a reference because this was not the first time the Copy Ninja had summoned them to find his female student.

Pakkun chose to stay close to the elite shinobi instead of joining his pack mates as they dispersed along the path. He wondered what could have gotten into his friend – Kakashi was not acting like himself, and the little pug wanted to know why. After all, Sakura was now an adult and a thoroughly competent kunoichi with enough experience to deal with most conceivable situations in which she might find herself while traveling.

After studying the jonin for a moment, the canine suddenly understood: the stubborn old fool had _finally_ come to the conclusion that he loved Sakura – which, Pakkun conceded, would certainly give Kakashi reason to worry about her excessively. Of course, the pack had known for a long time (some things that are easily hidden from humans are not so easily hidden from dogs) and, for the most part, the ninken had hoped that Kakashi would eventually understand his feelings and do something about them. It was unfortunate, the little dog reflected sadly, that it had taken Sakura's disappearance to make the foolish man recognize his desires.

"I didn't realize," said Pakkun. "I'm sorry."

The Copy Ninja said nothing as they continued along the road, only nodding his acceptance of the apology. His mind was elsewhere.

Pakkun waited a few moments then, realizing that Kakashi wasn't going to offer any details, he asked, "So, are you going to tell me what happened?"

Kakashi nodded, knowing his old friend deserved some answers. "She was taken about eight weeks ago and they've been sending ransom notes to me, _personally_, ever since," he said. "Unfortunately, I was out of the village when it happened – only just found out about it an hour or so ago. If the last letter is anything to go by…" He shook his head, not wanting to think about the all too real possibility that he might already be too late. "They've become… _impatient_ with my lack of response, or apparent lack of interest. I'm afraid that if I don't get there soon, they might do something drastic or irreversible…" His pulse jumped at the terrifying possibilities. "That is, if they haven't already…"

The pictures had given him a more accurate idea of Sakura's state than the poorly written ransom notes. The first few photos had been, under the circumstances, okay – Sakura was very much alive, struggling, and obviously giving her captors a great deal of trouble. A part of him was proud of her for showing as much spirit as she did. But as both time and the pictures proceeded, she seemed to become progressively paler and unanimated. The last few photos definitely didn't bode well: the medic was glassy-eyed – clearly drugged – pale, and thin. In the most recent and absolute worst of the lot, her body was slack, limply posed in a chair, and her eyes were closed. It was impossible to determine if she was still alive.

Granted, if she hadn't been alive, there would be little reason to send yet another ransom note demanding that he pay for her freedom in person. Exactly what they wanted from him was never mentioned in any of the notes, but it didn't take a genius such as himself to hazard a guess…

Sakura's captors weren't the first to try and wrest the Sharingan from Kakashi, but what set them apart from the others was the fact that they actually had a chance of succeeding. They held captive the only person he would ever value more than the parting gift from his genin teammate.

Kakashi had to believe that they would drop the whole ransom bit if Sakura was already dead... He couldn't bring himself to speculate on the possibility that he might be too late – what it would be like to finally arrive, just to find that all that waited for him was her lifeless body and a lifetime of regret.

Frustrated and panicked, he couldn't keep his mind from replaying the same thoughts again and again in a desperate attempt to convince himself that he would get there on time and that she would be okay. All of the notes mentioned that the kidnappers were taking good care of his kunoichi – that they were not hurting her more than necessary. The elite shinobi had to wonder what they deemed 'necessary' and just what sort of a psychological state she would be in when he got to her. Kakashi could think of many things that they could do to Sakura without 'hurting' her to which he and, most certainly, she would object.

The little pug stayed silent when his summoner stopped talking. It was clear how the elite shinobi felt for his former student and that he finally intended to act on his feelings. Pakkun had wondered on several different occasions why Kakashi hadn't just done something about his relationship with Sakura Knowing that the Copy Ninja had finally discovered his real feelings for his former student, Pakkun understood that Kakashi's mind must be stuck in some sort of private hell – wondering and worrying over what had happened to Sakura.

~*~*~*~

Sakura groggily opened her eyes and groaned. She had completely lost track of the time. It could be sometime after noon or it could be the middle of the night for all she knew. Restlessly, she shifted into a sitting position, wincing in pain, to take another look at her surroundings. As far as she could tell, nothing had changed. She was still dressed in her shirt and shorts, lying in a fairly comfortable bed in a small windowless room with two chairs and a table. They hadn't restrained her, but then again, they didn't have to – the chakra inhibitors around her wrists, the sedative running through her system, and the fact that someone had decided to disable her legs just to be vigilant, guaranteed that she wouldn't be going anywhere on her own. Severing her Achilles tendons had been a cruel, painful and, above all, effective way of ensuring that she could not leave the bed. As she pulled herself into a more comfortable position, Sakura hissed and hoped, not for the first time, that someone would either come for her or put her out of her misery.

Sakura had no idea how long she had been there, but she knew that it was too long. The drug they were using to keep her quiet, calm and out of trouble was beginning to have malignant effects. At the most, she figured her body would be able to tolerate it for a few more weeks before giving out. Things were not looking good for her, but then again, they hadn't been looking good for her since she had met her captors and very decisively turned down their request.

The pink-haired kunoichi couldn't figure out why she was still alive and relatively (in the grand scheme of things) unhurt – never mind the fact that for the entire duration of her stay she had remained untouched. As far as she knew the only other woman staying with them was the elderly one who did the washing and cooking and attended to Sakura when she needed something. Sakura had seen the way some of the men had looked at her the few times she had been taken from her room and had fearfully braced herself for the worst… but so far no one had so much as laid an inappropriate finger on her. Granted, the fact that it hadn't happened yet did not mean that it wouldn't. She kept that thought at the very forefront of her mind and always tried to be prepared to defend herself.

The few times her captors had felt like chatting, they had insisted that someone, namely Kakashi, would be coming for her. But Sakura did not believe them. Kakashi would never walk into such an obvious trap, and the village of Konoha did not negotiate to free captured shinobi. That didn't mean that they wouldn't make an attempt to rescue her, but as far as she could assume, attempts to save her had probably already been made and failed. And, if that was the case, Tsunade's last avenue would be to send in people to collect her remains after the destruction of the compound. As far as Sakura could predict, she would die in captivity – either by an accidental overdose of the sedative, or by her kidnappers' hands when they realized that no one was coming for her.

As Sakura was thinking the same heavy thoughts she had thought every 'day' since her arrival, the lock on the door rattled. She hastily lowered herself back onto the bed and feigned sleep – which wasn't particularly difficult since the sedative was still hard at work, conspiring to keep her quiet and inactive. The medic had learned that if she appeared to be asleep, visitors would usually go away after a moment or two. Lately, if she wasn't already asleep, someone would be found to give her another dose of sedative – they had apparently tired of dealing with her when she was awake. Sakura was painfully aware that each injection brought her a little closer to a cumulative overdose.

She waited in an expectant moment of silence before she heard the retreating footsteps. Just as she was about to heave a silent sigh of relief, the person returned, dragging a chair to her bedside. It squeaked faintly as he or she eased onto the cheap piece of furniture to wait. Her heart rate accelerated. Unnerved, the medic stayed still, debating with herself. Should she pretend to wake up or just continue to feign sleep until the real thing took her? Her curiosity soon got the better of her – this was a new and different sequence of events and she couldn't help but hope that it might signal a positive change in her status. Carefully she shifted herself a little, as though just awakening, and turned her head. Her eyelids fluttered open slowly – at least she had intended for them to – but then snapped open wide with shock.

Sakura recognized the man sitting at her bedside almost immediately despite the fact that he had discarded his glasses, lost a lot of weight, had his nose broken and improperly set in several different places, and now wore several large and faded bruises on his face.

"Hideki?" she asked incredulously, too shocked to even think of trying to lash out and inflict major damage on the odious man.

~*~*~*~

Kakashi's apprehension swelled with each mile they traveled. They had almost reached Rain and he had, so far, found no traces of where Sakura had been forced from the path. The (generally defunct in peacetime) border reports which he'd collected from the records office before departing revealed that Sakura hadn't made it into Rain – or rather, her capture had occurred before she officially crossed the border, though her kidnappers could have easily smuggled her over. His concern increased. They were almost there, yet he hadn't found anything to suggest that this was indeed the path that Sakura was taken from. The elite shinobi couldn't help but worry that his original assumption was wrong, that they might have wasted a lot of time and energy on a fool's errand.

Because the medic had been gone from the village for two months, any traces of her scent, both at the gates of the village and on the path itself, were long gone. Instead of trying to find and follow a nonexistent scent trail, Kakashi had made an estimated guess about which road Sakura took. The possibility that he had made a mistake ate away at his confidence and fed his fear. Unfortunately, he couldn't be sure, not until they reached the border. Only then could he decide that he had chosen wrong and turn back to try another route. The suspense and worry were wreaking havoc on his nerves.

It was getting dark, and though he didn't want to stop and rest, Kakashi knew his ninken would need a break for the night. Just as he was about to call a halt, one of the dogs barked sharply from the underbrush bordering the path, and a moment later several of the other dogs converged on something. Kakashi hastily joined them to discover a small black dart crushed into the ground. He picked up the tiny weapon to examine it and recognized that the dart was one of the variety usually tipped with a poison or drug. At the least it solved the troubling puzzle of how Sakura had allowed herself to be taken. But it also caused him more concern – he would not be dealing with amateurs. Because of the poor quality of the ransom notes and the fact that they were addressed and sent to him personally, Kakashi had held on to a faint hope that Sakura's kidnappers were unskilled, and, therefore, that rescuing her wouldn't be too difficult.

A careful sweep of the area resulted in the dogs finding another, then another, and another. It had obviously taken quite a few of the darts to take Sakura down. Kakashi was thankful that she had a high tolerance for most commonly used sedatives. While it wasn't required, many kunoichi took the time to build up a resistance to a wide variety of drugs – it was just plain common sense.

Eventually the pack discovered a section of the path where the bordering underbrush was fresh and new – a sign that there had been a struggle. Kakashi wasn't surprised to find the remains of another dart where his dogs found widespread traces of blood. The Copy Ninja could easily imagine the progression of the fight and was proud of how courageously Sakura had resisted. He hesitated for a moment in indecision. It was late and they'd been going non-stop. They really should call it a night and resume their search at first light, but his concern for Sakura gave him cause to consider continuing. While he was planning his next course of action, the dogs spread out to pick up her scent without waiting for their master's orders – they could tell how very important this was to the elite shinobi, and for that he was very thankful.

~*~*~*~

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" Sakura exclaimed with surprise, the shock sweeping away the sedative cobwebs and making it easier for her to think.

"I'm sorry they got you. I thought that if they were stymied a couple times they might give up and lose interest…" Hideki trailed off, seemingly genuinely apologetic.

"What? What are you talking about? What's going on?" Sakura asked, feeling angry, frustrated, and now that the drugs had cleared from her mind, pained by the wounds on her legs.

Her guest sighed and shook his head. "I was never particularly sure that you didn't recognize me. Guess I have my answer now."

"_Hideki_, tell me! What the hell is going on?!"

"Now is not the time. I'm meeting with my uncle shortly. I just wanted to come by and apologize." He rose to his feet and nodded at the now irate woman. "I'll be back later to explain. In the meantime, no one should come by to bother you. If you're as intelligent as you're supposed to be, you will use that time wisely." He nodded at the surface of the little table by the bedside, upon which now rested sheets of paper and a pen.

Sakura paused for a moment after he left, allowing her temper to cool a little. Finally, when her ire had subsided, she reached out and grabbed the paper and pen. The medic had no intentions of writing what they wanted her to write, but she did have something else that she needed to put to paper before she lost the opportunity.

_Kakashi,_

_If you're reading this, chances are you're too late. I'm sorry…_

~*~*~*~

Running on sheer adrenaline, Kakashi quickly followed his pack through the dense forest. He had tried to offer a break for the night after finding a viable trail – knowing they were exhausted and more than deserved some rest – but none of the dogs had the heart to stop. It was rare to see Kakashi in such a state, and they wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. To an outside observer, he would appear to be as calm and collected as usual, but his dogs, who had known him intimately for years, could tell just how upset he was.

The trail led them further and further into the wilds of border territory. It was difficult to tell if they were in Fire or if they had crossed into Rain. If Kakashi had to guess, he would have estimated that they had indeed crossed into Rain. But, he couldn't be sure without actually coming across some sort of recognizable landmark, and to all honesty, it didn't really matter.

Kakashi's mind kept returning to the same thoughts, his concern for Sakura's safety driving everything else away. He didn't want to lose Sakura – he'd do _anything_ to save her. Any sacrifice would be worth the price if it meant her safety and freedom. In her he had found something he had never expected to find in _anyone_, and now that he had finally accepted it for what it truly was… Kakashi had no intentions of ever giving it, _her_, up.

His Sharingan would be a dear and dangerous price to pay, one he would never consider lightly. But, Sakura… As for the danger that giving up his weapon could potentially cause Konoha… well, it wasn't as great as it had once been. Sakura had told him that the Sharingan was taking a toll on his body, and vice versa. It wouldn't be nearly as sound for a third owner as it had been for him. And, even if they were able to find someone who could successfully complete the transplant, there were only a handful of medics (Sakura included) skilled enough to ensure the eye would be fully functional after a _second_ transplant. Also, there was only one other person aside from Kakashi who could supervise the training necessary to master the transplanted kekkei genkai, and he rather doubted Sasuke would even stop to listen to a solicitation for his aid before killing anyone with a Sharingan after Kakashi returned to the village without one.

When all was said and done, if he had to, he would give up the Sharingan. The possibility of it posing a threat to Konoha was limited. Also, the area was likely to be swarming with shinobi once the two weeks Tsunade had given him to retrieve Sakura on his own expired. He was certain that the unlucky man who had taken Sakura wouldn't live long enough to enjoy the fruit of his labor. As much as Kakashi would love to be the one to exact revenge for Sakura's abduction, his sense of honor wouldn't allow him to do so after striking a deal for his former student's welfare. He would be satisfied so long as he had her back safe, and would leave the physical retribution up to their comrades.

~*~*~*~

Sakura felt herself being slowly tugged from an artificially induced state of sleep. She sleepily sensed that something was not quite right. Cursing the sedative, she yawned and opened her eyes. The memory of what had happened the last time she awoke flooded back to her when she found Hideki once again sitting comfortably by her bedside, his face adorned by several fresh bruises. Unable to help herself, she winced sympathetically.

"You're awake, good. I was beginning to wonder if someone had snuck in and drugged you again while I was away." Though his tone was light, she could sense the gravity of his words.

Sakura yawned again and tried to force her mind to focus – something that was getting increasingly more difficult each with each passing day. There was a reason why she hadn't built up a resistance to this particular drug: the effects tended to be cumulative, making the dosages needed to create a tolerance very, very dangerous.

Carefully, the pink-haired woman shifted herself into a sitting position, hissing a little in pain.

Hideki immediately leaned forward with clear concern. "You're in pain, you should be uninjured. What's wrong? What have they done to you?"

A little taken aback, Sakura hesitated, still unsure about what was going on. Obviously Hideki had been an accomplice in her kidnapping. Yet, he didn't seem to be aware of everything. After a moment, she grasped the bed linens and pulled them aside enough to show the concerned man her bandaged legs.

Hideki gasped and let out a long string of curses before visibly pulling himself together. "Who did this to you?"

Still unsure what to make of his actions, she shrugged. "I don't know. I woke up like this." She eyed him for a moment. "I was rather hoping that you could tell me."

He shook his head. "That was not part of the plan, they weren't supposed to hurt you…" the upset man trailed off, running a nervous hand through his hair and averting his eyes from hers.

Wanting to get angry, but lacking the energy and knowing it would do her no good, Sakura pursed her lips and tried to be patient. "Just what the hell is going on Hideki?"

He glanced back up at her and sighed, realizing that he would have to tell her the whole story.

"It's a long story…"

Sakura folded her arms across her chest and waited.

Hideki swallowed nervously before beginning his account. "Well, you see… maybe ten years ago, my uncle ran a gang of bandits. They did the usual stuff: robberies, blackmail, protection schemes, kidnappings…" He shook his head as if to clear his mind of bad memories. "I'd just been sent to live with him and my cousins after my parents died in a fire. The rest of my family had no idea that my uncle was a criminal since he maintained a perfectly legal sideline business selling his ill-gotten gains through an auction house which he owned." He sighed. "Anyway, one night a group of travelers wandered into our territory, among them a legendary shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and a small girl…"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she began to suspect where the story was leading.

"My uncle thought the set-up was ideal, too perfect to pass up, so he acted immediately. He had the girl, _you_, kidnapped in hopes of using her as leverage to force the Copy Ninja to carry out several assassinations in a rival organization. Unfortunately, my uncle hadn't realized just how strong Kakashi was or how angry he would be upon finding us…" Hideki shuddered at the memories of that horrible night. Kakashi had been thoroughly ruthless and totally vicious in ensuring that he punished all men involved in the abduction of his female student.

Sakura swallowed hard. She remembered just how brutal Kakashi had been and just how scary it was for her to see him like that.

"For some reason, maybe because we were about your age, he let my cousins and me go with a warning… It wasn't much later that a squad of ANBU came and took all of the adults back to your village. I learned later that they had been detained for interrogation. As you can imagine, I lost contact with my uncle for a while. And, not long after that I parted ways with my cousins – they wanted to try and rebuild their life in crime, and I wanted something more normal, more law abiding, and less dangerous."

"If you lost touch with them that long ago, how did you end up back here?"

Hideki grimaced at the memory. "Was years later that they finally found me. They had a harebrained scheme to get revenge…" Hesitantly he glanced up to catch her gaze. "I'm sorry. I never thought they would actually succeed – my uncle hasn't quite been, er, _right_ since being released after his interrogation... This whole revenge scheme was never supposed to get this far. It was just something to keep him happy and occupied while my cousins ran the show from behind the scenes..." the brown-haired man trailed off, lost in his own thoughts. Nothing had gone the way he wanted, and he didn't have the ability to fix any of it.

Sakura stared at him with her mouth agape in astonishment. Her first kidnapping was a traumatic event on its own, never mind the distress and confusion caused by seeing her sensei in a role she had never thought to put him in, behaving in ways she hadn't thought possible. The medic had spent a lot of time trying to forget the experience. Now, she found herself trying to remember: what her captors looked like, what they had actually done to her, and who else she might have seen while she waited for Kakashi to save her.

Try as she might, Sakura couldn't remember. Time, trying to forget, and trauma made everything one big, unpleasant blur. The only thing she remembered clearly was the feelings of horror, nothing else… even after Kakashi had appeared and dealt with her kidnappers, she remembered nothing distinct.

While she was digging into the depths of her mind, looking for scraps of memories long ago suppressed, Hideki seemed to return to himself and realize that he had something else to apologize for.

"I'm also sorry for what they asked of you… it was the only thing I could think of to convince them not to kill you right away. My uncle was fairly set on watching Kakashi's reaction upon finding out that you were already dead… I'm afraid that has gotten out of control as well."

Still stunned, Sakura shook her head and answered without thought, automatically. "That's okay. Kakashi isn't coming anyway, so it shouldn't matter that I told them I'd rather die…"

Hideki swallowed hard, surprised that his uncle hadn't had her killed for refusing their offer – especially since she had admitted that she preferred death. "That's what you think. I know better. He will come, and when he does…"

Sakura shook her head. "Even if he is stupid enough to come, which I highly doubt he is, I'll still refuse."

Hideki shot her a calculating look before asking softly, "And if he's willing –what then? Will you still refuse?"

The medic opened her mouth to respond… only to discover that she could find no words to answer that question. Slowly, the true overarching horror of her situation finally asserted itself in her mind; this wasn't and never had been about _just_ her. Though she was the one currently being held captive, Kakashi was the one they really wanted. Her kidnappers had only taken her to get at him, and after recent events back in the village, Sakura could not dismiss the likelihood of Kakashi coming for her and paying any price to get her back, out of hand. Unless there was some sort of outside interference, her former sensei would come and then pay the disgustingly steep price – even if she refused to cooperate. Sakura felt her face pale and a feeling of sickness overcame her with the full realization of the situation into which she had unknowingly pulled Kakashi.

Hideki watched as the captive medic suddenly saw the big picture and struggled with her new revelations. He felt bad for having to point out some harsh realities to Sakura. Knowing that she would have a lot to think about, he rose to take his leave. At the door he paused to look back at the deeply troubled woman. "For your own sake, you should at least think about what you will do in when he does come and is willing to pay… I'd hate to see you put into such a situation unexpectedly."

~*~*~*~

Knowing that the dogs were exhausted and running on pure adrenaline, Kakashi finally called a halt. It killed him to have to stop, his concern for Sakura driving him harder than anything else, but he knew that if they didn't rest soon, his dogs would start dropping like flies.

As he set up a pallet for the night, Kakashi's mind returned to the ransom notes, and once he finished making camp, his hand automatically reached into his hip-pouch and retrieved the accompanying photographs. They were starting to get a bit grimy around the edges from the many times he had pulled them out to reassure himself that Sakura would be okay – though, the most recent of the photos caused him more distress than he really wanted to admit.

While he was lost in contemplation of the troubling photos, the smallest of his summons joined him. After a couple silent moments, the little pug reached out a paw to one of Kakashi's legs. "Don't worry, we'll get her back." Pakkun did his best to reassure his friend, feeling a deep sense of empathy for him. The canine knew how the shinobi felt about his former student, and the pug's heart went out to Kakashi in his current situation. "The guys and I will find her, and then you'll take her back. We'll be returning to the village before you know it."

~*~*~*~

Kakashi finally slowed his gait as he noted the slight signs of civilization and realized that he was approaching a settlement– most likely the one in which Sakura was being held. Sure enough, half a mile further he caught sight of a large, old-fashioned estate complex. It had been heavily fortified with extra walls and obvious security measures, which made it easy for him to surmise that it was the right place.

Cautiously, he called a halt to assess the situation. After a few moments of calculation, he sent his dogs out on a quick reconnaissance sweep around the compound. Kakashi could easily predict that Sakura was being detained in the main building, probably somewhere near the top floor in the most heavily-guarded area. The ransom notes warned him against breaking in to steal her back– rather, they wanted him to walk in and present himself to the leader like any other visitor. Standard threats had been issued: instant death to Sakura, et cetera. But Kakashi wasn't convinced that he should comply with their demands… Though he usually would have just ignored the instructions, the reality that Sakura's safety was on the line made his next move much more precarious.

Moments later, the dogs returned to give their reports. The place was locked up tight – too tight for him to risk it. He could probably slip in unnoticed and locate Sakura on his own, but it would take several days to observe enough of the daily routine to actually pull it off. Unfortunately, time was a commodity he didn't have enough of, and Sakura's life just wasn't something he wanted to risk.

With a sigh, Kakashi decided that he would follow the instructions and enter as a visitor. It was the surest and fastest way to actually see Sakura again. And, by entering as they had requested, it also had the added benefit of not putting her in even more danger. So he thanked his ninken, dismissing the whole pack, shifted the band of leather he'd been using to cover his Sharingan enough to allow him to see through it but not enough for it to be seen, and openly set out for the gate. It was time for him to go and get Sakura – whatever her condition – back.

After waiting for only a few minutes, which were put to good use assessing the thickly fortified outer walls, Kakashi was allowed inside the compound. The elite jonin kept his natural eye and his Sharingan moving while he and his escort made their way to the largest building and up to the top floor. The place was a heavily protected, well organized fortress. There were guards at every entrance, stairwell and exit; no windows without both horizontal and vertical bars; mobile guard squads and wards against jutsu were posted everywhere. His guide stopped outside a door, knocked, and then gestured for Kakashi to proceed.

Cautiously, the elite shinobi entered – on-guard for a possible trap. He was mildly surprised to find himself in a rather large office. He wasn't all that sure what he had expected, but a somewhat cramped room filled with books and maps was definitely not it.

There were two seated men in the room. One of them, the larger of the two, seemed very familiar. Though Kakashi couldn't quite put his finger on the where or the when, he was positive he'd dealt with the man before. The smaller man had a map unrolled in front of him and was busily marking different sections of it. Both looked up upon his entrance.

The familiar man addressed Kakashi. "Ah, welcome Kakashi – Copy Ninja. My name is Akinori, and I'm glad you've come." His tone was disconcertingly friendly, as though he hadn't been sending increasingly impatient ransom notes to Kakashi for the past two months.

"Where is she?" Kakashi asked, keeping a frown to himself. The elite shinobi had contended with a lot of enemies before, and the ones who tried to act friendly were always the worst.

"Where is," he furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment before remembering. "Ah, yes, your kunoichi… all in good time. First, I think we have some things to discuss."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, not at all liking the fact that the friendly man didn't want to provide proof before starting the negotiations. "We have nothing to discuss until I've both seen and spoken to her." The silver-haired man worked hard to keep the growl of annoyance out of his voice.

Akinori sighed and turned to the smaller man, who was still working industriously on the large map. The man with the map paled visibly before discreetly shaking his head in a negative.

"Oh. Looks like you're too late."


	32. Chapter ThirtyTwo: Purgatory

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Um, yeah… this took a bit longer than I'd anticipated. . My apologies. Happy is that I now have a new beta who is as motivated as I am to finally finish this monster. After this one there are only two more left! I'm so very excited to be finishing so I can work more seriously on other (yes, KakaSaku) projects. :-)

Many, many, many thanks to my new beta MimozaBlooming – you didn't go running for the hills (like some before you) upon seeing my terribly rough draft! Thank you! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm seriously only as good as my beta. If not for you I'd never have gotten this done and posted. I really appreciate all the long hours you've put into making this chapter readable. Again, thank you!

Loads of thanks to everyone who is still reading! And, of course, special thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I'm sorry I just don't have enough time to respond to everyone. But, the support and encouragement has definitely kept me going with this fic. Thank you! Happy reading!

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Chapter Thirty-Two: Purgatory

Kakashi's heart nearly stopped as the words echoed again and again in his mind, 'Oh. Looks like you're too late.' It couldn't be true. It just could _not_ be true. He had come as soon as he could, followed their directions, and just like that, she's gone? His heart refused to accept what his ears so clearly heard. Sakura just had to be alive… he couldn't accept anything else. He _wouldn't_ accept anything else.

The man in front of him waved a hand negligently. "I guess you just missed her. Too bad." Akinori shook his head in mock sincerity, obviously enjoying Kakashi's stunned and pained reaction - it was much sweeter than anything he had expected. His nephew, blast the boy, had been right. The reaction he had originally wanted paled in comparison to the one he was getting now. And, he had to admit, had the added bonus of allowing him to demand a payment for the girl's return.

The Copy Ninja felt as though he'd been punched in the stomach – the statement stole his breath away. He was too late – it was as he'd feared deep down. Sakura was gone. He'd lost yet another loved one – no, he'd _failed_ yet another loved one… and, worst of all, she was the one he'd loved most. To fail her…

Feeling prostrated, his mind painfully stuck in a descending spiral as guilt and grief started to latch on to him, Kakashi refocused his attention on the man who had orchestrated Sakura's kidnapping. Anger and a slow burning rage started to take over as the complete injustice of the situation finally settled on him. He had done everything they had stipulated and they still had the nerve to go and kill her. Without a thought, in a careless instant they had taken away the most important person - the woman he loved and wanted to spend the rest of his days with… gone.

And, the worst part – the absolute _worst_ part – there was nothing – absolutely _nothing_ –he could do about it. Sure, he could tear the whole place apart and exact a very satisfying revenge… but, having experienced something similar in the past he already knew that the feeling would be fleeting. Regardless, he _would_ tear the whole place apart but it _still_ wouldn't bring back the woman he loved. No, what was done; was done. He'd lost her. They'd killed her and he'd lost her. Not a single jutsu in his reserve of over one-thousand could undo her death. Sakura was gone and nothing, absolutely _nothing_ he could do would bring her back. Nothing _anyone… _his train of thought stopped cold – things had changed, jutsu had progressed since he'd last lost some one almost as dear to him as Sakura. No… nothing _he_ could do would bring her back but… yes, there _were_ people who knew ways to bring her back, for a fee. He'd lost but maybe not for good – if he could get her body out of there quickly enough...

Akinori continued on, pretending to ignore the fact that Kakashi no longer seemed to be paying him much attention, still thoroughly enjoying the show but also aware that the best was yet to come. "I guess you'll just have to wait until she comes around."

Provoked, Kakashi turned his attention from the devastating loss of Sakura's death to the man in front of him – doing his best to keep himself in control. After all, he wanted answers before he killed the son of a bitch and every other bastard in the compound. At Akinori's strange statement confusion momentarily took over from the all too familiar feelings of helpless anger and crushing loss, and the actual words finally hit home. "What?"

"Sakura. Your girl." He sighed as though in disbelief at Kakashi's clear stupidity, and had a hard time keeping the smugness from his voice. "You'll have to wait until she comes around if you want to talk to her."

Anger fading a little, he grasped at the thin shred of hope and carefully asked for clarification. "Comes around?"

"I see the genius Copy Ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves doesn't quite live up to his reputation. I'm disappointed." Akinori shook his head as though in mild incredulity – he saw very well what Kakashi had felt and savored every moment of it. Revenge was, after all, a dish best served cold. And, he reminded himself – this was only the appetizer. The main course would come later when the medic was forced to re-transplant the Sharingan, and then would be the dessert, made all the sweeter for the fact that the Leaf shinobi would ultimately be the one responsible for the girl's death when he finally took her from the compound.

Kakashi did his best not to clench his hands or jaw or show any other signs of his unwinding grasp on his pent up fury. First, the man told him he was too late to see Sakura, and now, after offering a shred of hope that Sakura might not be dead, the man was insulting him. Tempting images of using some of the more exotic techniques in his repertoire on the sick son of a bitch before him flashed through his mind. Though, of course, he would actually kill Akinori using his own original jutsu rather than any he had copied from someone else – it seemed only fitting. Granted such thoughts were moot as the entire compound was papered with wards preventing the use of jutsu… then again, that particular restriction would not prevent him from exacting his revenge when the time came. Oh no, he wasn't Guy's rival for nothing, as he'd more than mastered an impressive number of taijutsu techniques which would serve just as well in making everyone stupid enough to have participated in Sakura's kidnapping pay. At least until he'd managed to disable some of those wards... Before he could put voice to his thoughts of vengeance the other man continued.

Affecting that he couldn't imagine that Kakashi had thought otherwise, Akinori explained himself – satisfied, for the time being, with the amount of emotional pain he had inflicted on the silver haired man. It didn't make up for the dozen or two rounds he had suffered at the hands of the trainee ANBU interrogators, but it was a start. "The girl has just been sedated – it'll probably be a couple hours or maybe a day before she wakes up, but you're welcome to talk to her when she does."

Kakashi stared at Akinori with deep mistrust – Sakura was still alive. He might not be too late! A cautious sense of relief flooded him before he could get a handle on it and put things into perspective. Just because they told him that she was still alive did not mean that she actually was. Kakashi would have to wait until he could verify that fact for himself. And, if she was still alive that didn't automatically mean that she was alright. He would need to see and then talk to her himself before he could make that judgment. The Copy Ninja didn't like the fact that they had apparently been sedating her regularly but for the moment he was too relieved to hear that she might still be breathing to allow his anger to return to the front of his mind so quickly.

The older man realized with more than a little annoyance that the Copy Ninja was not going to talk until _after_ he had seen the girl and sighed impatiently – he wanted to discuss business, and watch the younger man squirm, before allowing the assassin to see his girl. "I guess I could let you see her first."

"Yes," the Copy Ninja replied without hesitation. He'd just had the closest call ever with Sakura and it wasn't over yet. Oh no, just because the kidnapper said Sakura was alive didn't mean that the woman they would show him wasn't a fraud.

"Fine, fine. Masanobu," Akinori gestured to the man who had been working nearby. "Take the man to see the girl."

The meek man bowed his head, rose from his seat, and joined Kakashi at the door. "This way." Masanobu couldn't help but shrink a little from the Copy Ninja, who radiated waves of malice so strong as to be almost palpable.

Kakashi followed the man from the room, his thoughts solely focused on Sakura. He was very anxious to see her, and yet very nervous. The letters had assured him that she was well taken care of while in their custody, but without a doubt his pink haired friend had obviously not been doing well. The photos had all too clearly documented her decline – despite his anticipation, he was almost afraid to see her in person. As they walked he kept _both_ his eyes busy: taking in every detail so that his mind could sort through different variations of plans to get Sakura out of there as quickly and quietly as possible. As they passed some of the inconvenient wards, his ire returned full force. When his guide visibly flinched away, Kakashi ignored him, choosing to focus all his energy on his task of liberating Sakura from this awful prison.

Masanobu led Kakashi down a floor and through a heavily guarded hallway to a small non-descript room located in the very center of the building. Gingerly he knocked, barely making a noise, before unlocking and opening the door.

Kakashi did his best not to immediately rush into the room and to Sakura's side. He forced himself to take a moment to examine the room for signs of an ambush or some a trap and found none. His quick survey also informed him that the woman lying, unrestrained, in a small bed was indeed Sakura and not an imposter. A tiny fear that had nagged at him (though, he couldn't openly admit it to himself for dread of making it true) ever since he saw that last Polaroid had been that –if she had died – they might try to trick him at a distance with a fake. At first glance he ascertained that she appeared to be both dressed and unhurt. His gaze settled on her face; Sakura was pale and thin – paler and thinner than she had been in the most recent ransom photo. His breath caught for a moment before sheer rage threatened to overwhelm him – it was obvious that despite all their assurances, his woman was _not_ doing very well. He'd hoped that they'd kept their word and that Sakura was not doing as poorly as he'd surmised from the photos. But now that he was there with her those hopes were crushed.

Kakashi suddenly found himself in a very real struggle to restrain himself. They'd taken and grossly mistreated his kunoichi, the woman he loved – each and every one of them deserved to die slowly and painfully, and suffering at least ten times more than what they had inflicted upon her. The baser part of him wanted to try out some of his more imaginative copied techniques on the whole lot of them – the ones he had felt dirty for copying and had been too repulsed by to ever use in combat. They needed to pay for what they had done, what they had tried to do… Basically, they needed to die, horribly and after much and very prolonged suffering.

Instinctually Masanobu took a couple steps away from the furious shinobi, seeking an avenue of escape out of the possible line of fire. The underling knew how terrible the young woman looked, and wanted nothing to do with the consequences. The justifiably enraged Copy Ninja was downright terrifying – this was not at all what Masanobu had signed on for when he had answered the advertisement looking for a skilled accountant.

Tentatively Masanobu cleared his throat, hoping to distract the irate man from the kunoichi's poor condition. "Um…Y-you've seen her now." The fearful man gulped and did his best to continue after his charge turned his attention back to him for a moment before refocusing on the clearly ill woman in the bed. "C-can I, um, can I, er escort you, uh back…" Masanobu trailed off, watching as the ninja moved one of the chairs to the side of her bed.

"No. I'll stay here." With a tone that brooked no arguments in his voice the Copy Ninja seated himself next to Sakura – wanting to reach out and take one of her hands in his – hell, wanting to take all of her into his arms – but resisting the urge. To show that sort of a weakness in front of Sakura's captors would be a foolishness he couldn't afford to give in to – after all, they were holding all the cards… for now.

"B-but…" the anxious man stammered, torn between his fears of Akinori and Kakashi.

"I told your boss, no negotiations until I'd both seen _and_ spoken with her. I'll discuss nothing until she wakes up and I've had the chance to talk to her." Kakashi did not bother to hide the edge of malevolence from his tone.

Masanobu nodded and hastily withdrew, not wanting to anger the elite shinobi any further… and fearing for his own life. He had agreed with Hideki; kidnapping the woman and incapacitating her as they had, had been a very bad idea. Things would not end well, he could just feel it. Thoughts of taking an extended holiday somewhere far, far away entered his mind and he wasn't quite able to dismiss them.

Once the his escort was gone, Kakashi reached out to Sakura and gently brushed a few non-existent strands of hair from her face, before allowing his hand to slide along her jaw to rest on her cheek. Her thinness was painfully obvious to his touch and he had to fight another surge of anger – she didn't deserve this, she deserved so much better. Kakashi sighed and shook his head, his eye falling on her necklace. Despite the situation, he smiled a little and shifted his hand from her cheek to the piece of jewelry, pleased to see that she was still wearing it – his grandmother's torc looked beautiful on her.

As Kakashi was admiring the silver kunoichi tool, he remembered the matching armband he had also given her with the tiny yet sharp blades and secret compartments... Feeling a little apprehensive of what he might find he carefully shifted the blankets away from Sakura's upper torso. The Copy Ninja was pleased to see that she was still wearing it – apparently her captors didn't realize that it was dangerous.

Hastily he shifted her arm a little, charged a finger and opened all the compartments, hoping that he might find something to help with the situation. The first flower concealed a stash of pills, some of which he recognized, such as soldier and plasma, while others he didn't. The second and third flowers hid tiny tubes of ointment – super concentrated if he was to guess by how strongly they reacted to his chakra. And, the fourth flower… Kakashi's heart caught in his throat as the scrap of tightly folded paper sprang into his hand after the flower slid away. It was addressed to him.

The elite shinobi's hands shook a little as he carefully unfolded the paper to read Sakura's note.

_Kakashi, _

_If you're reading this, chances are you're too late. I'm sorry. I don't know how long I've been here, but the sedatives they've been using are starting to win. I don't think I'll be able to fight them much longer – with the way they've been drugging me I'm headed straight for an overdose. _

_Get out while you still can. You have to know it's a trap. I want you to leave, even if I'm still breathing when you find this - I won't be for much longer, so please save yourself. _

_Love – because I do love you. I have for a while now, but was too foolish to realize or maybe too stubborn admit it… I'm sorry – you don't deserve to hear it like this, but I don't think I'll be given the chance to tell you in person… and I wanted you to know, even if it is too late. _

_Your Sakura _

Kakashi read and reread her note. Sakura was dying. She was dying… and she loved him. Without realizing he reached out and took one of her hands in his – and cringed at how cold and clammy it felt; she was _not_ exaggerating in her note – but then again, in her note she had clearly not anticipated on him finding her before what she thought was the inevitable result of her situation. There was no way. Just, no way he would allow anything to happen to Sakura now that he'd finally found her. He really wanted to just scoop her up and make a break for it, but with the whole compound covered with wards, he couldn't risk his kunoichi's safety in the scuffle with the heavily armed guards in the hall. Instead, helpless (for the moment) but certainly not hopeless, he would just have to wait and see. Absently he pulled the back of her hand to his lips and then to his cheek, as he watched her sleep – he _would_ get her out of here alive, even if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

"I-I, uh, I wouldn't do that if, um, if I were, uh you…" the fear tinged voice trailed off in obvious uncertainty – torn between the need to stop the elite shinobi from doing something he would regret and the need to run away, run far, far away.

Kakashi turned slowly to face the speaker, holding Sakura's limp form protectively in his arms. Even though the small room lacked windows or clocks, he was feeling the passing of time quite keenly, and he knew Sakura's was limited. Still stuck in his woman's prison, it was now the middle of the second night and he was tired of waiting. The elite shinobi had had enough time to observe how things worked in this portion of the building and had decided to try and get Sakura out – he simply could _not_ wait any longer.

The guards who were usually stationed in the hall would be off on their rounds checking the rooms on the floor above and would then take a quick smoke break on the roof before returning to their posts, giving Kakashi plenty of time to get Sakura out of the building. The Copy Ninja was worried. His kunoichi shouldn't still be sleeping. Sakura should have woken up after a day at the very most. Something was very wrong and he wanted to get the young woman to a medic as soon as possible. Kakashi couldn't quite shake the sick feeling that she had been correct in her note and he was _already_ too late and that he _would_ lose her after all.

As he had waited, becoming more and more concerned, he had cautiously taken stock of Sakura's physical condition. When he found the bandages on her lower legs, the little table and one of the chairs had felt his wrath before he had been able to get his anger under control. There _would_ be hell to pay. As soon as he got Sakura out to safety he would be back, and he would make every single one of them wish they had never even thought to try and take the pink haired medic from him.

The Copy Ninja cleared the bloody thoughts of revenge from his mind and took a moment to look at the man who had spoken. Kakashi narrowed his eye – the brown haired man, like several of the other men he had seen so far, seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he might have seen or met any of them before. Subconsciously his arms tightened around the young woman – he would not let her go without a fight.

"You're making a big mistake." Hideki spoke again, but made no move to try and interfere or stop the elite shinobi. The waves of tightly controlled rage emanating from Kakashi were more than enough to make him reconsider his actions. But, after years of watching and coming to care for Sakura, he felt he owed it to her to at least try to prevent the frightening ninja from doing something foolish.

Kakashi figured that the man must be cautious by nature, despite the fact that his face sported a battered nose and was covered with bruises.

"Why? Who are you?" The elite shinobi eyed the man standing in his way, evaluating his potential as a threat and finding the brown haired man nothing to worry about. "Do you think you're going to stop me?"

"No, no… nothing like that." He raised his hands in front of himself to show that he had no ill intent, fear rising in him once again. "If you're determined to take her you can. I'll get out of your way and won't raise the alarm. Um, but, if you take her now, she is as good as dead."

Kakashi wanted to ignore the words, but a part of him just couldn't – he knew something was up. It had been absolute foolishness on Akinori's part to allow Kakashi to stay with Sakura unsupervised and the rational part of him knew that Akinori must have had a reason to allow it. "Explain yourself."

"Put her back in bed and I will. You're probably causing her a lot of pain without realizing it." The brown haired man nodded at Sakura's bandaged lower legs.

Kakashi frowned, automatically glancing at Sakura's legs, and cursed under his breath. He could see the fresh blood soaking into her bandages. Somehow he must have reopened her wounds. Gingerly he settled Sakura's inanimate form back into the blankets before seating himself on the edge of the bed next to her – if it was a ruse to get him away from the kunoichi, it wasn't going to work.

"You've no need to worry about me. Regardless of what you might think I'd like to see you get her out of here safe and sound – she deserves better than this. My-my name is…" He took a deep breath, almost afraid of the reaction he was likely to get from the older man, but feeling that he owed it to him. "Hideki, I was Sakura's landlord for a while."

Kakashi's eye widened and then narrowed as he made an aborted movement toward the frightened man. "_You_."

Hastily Hideki backed up a couple steps –he'd hoped that the jonin might have forgotten about his failed attempt to forcibly take Sakura from her apartment. "Whoa! It's not what you think! That night, t-they were going to make a kidnapping attempt… I, I had to get her out of there." He shook his head, knowing that he had better explain himself quickly before Kakashi lost his grip on his anger. The Copy Ninja wouldn't care that his cousins had gotten him drunk in order to wrest information about Sakura's daily habits from him so they could plan a kidnapping. Nor would the angry man care that Hideki had rushed back as fast as his drunken state would allow in an attempt to protect Sakura. But, the fact that he had botched it… that was something Kakashi was obviously quite concerned about. "Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I tried…"

The silver haired shinobi studied the younger man for a couple moments unsure what to make of it before deciding that he had more important things to think about just then. He could deal with Hideki later if the situation warranted it. Besides, Sakura was in dire need of medical attention and that overrode just about everything else in his book.

"What happened to her legs? I was told that she wouldn't be, and hadn't been, harmed. No one around here seems to want to talk about it." Kakashi's voice acquired a barely noticeable edge, his temper threatening to surface once again.

"Ah… it was deemed necessary after she almost escaped… er, from what I heard, someone severed her Achilles tendons after that. Um, to make sure she couldn't leave the room on her own…" Hideki fought the urge to bolt as the Copy Ninja clenched his fists and narrowed his eye – if looks could kill...

"They did _what_?" In spite of his best efforts, the silver haired man's voice was hardly above a whisper and shook with escalating outrage.

Incapable of preventing himself, the brown haired man shrank back a bit from the enraged shinobi. "Um, c-cut her legs… you know, um, so she couldn't, uh, get away? They, they shouldn't have, but, but no one was, uh, around to, um, to tell them it was stupid. I'm sorry to say that they'd already sent me out to try and find out why you weren't responding to the ransom notes. I suppose it never occurred to my uncle that you might be away from the village on a mission when he had her taken." Hideki shook his head sadly, momentarily forgetting his panic. "I'm truly very, very sorry."

His hands and jaw relaxed enough to make way for a suspicious sense of confusion, Kakashi couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"I-I didn't want to see her hurt, and did everything possible to stop them." Guilt taking over from the remorse, he sighed. "Well, at least while I was here… those fools don't often think much further than the situation immediately at hand." The battered man coughed a little. "Which is another reason why you shouldn't try and take her from here just yet. More… foolishness I wasn't here to talk them out of…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in question and remained silent – not trusting his voice.

Hideki couldn't bring himself to look Kakashi in the eye. "You take her out of here now and she's as good as dead. I'm guessing that my uncle did not to tell you about the poison."

"Poison?" Kakashi asked with some disbelief, his hopes of getting Sakura out that evening unscathed sinking. Hadn't they done enough to the poor woman already?

"Yeah, nasty piece of work, I know. My uncle set orders for it when you arrived. As soon as you entered, she was to be injected with something… Unfortunately, I don't know what it is – no one does." The brown haired man tried to back up another step and cursed to himself when he realized that he had hit the wall and could retreat no further. "Well, no one other than the man who has been administering doses of the antidote as necessary so that she doesn't die on us before you can strike a deal for her freedom…"

The Copy Ninja felt his anger reach a new level. First they'd kidnapped Sakura, then disabled her legs, drugged her to the point of an imminent overdose and now poison? It was just too much. She didn't deserve to be treated so carelessly, she didn't deserve any of it. He had to get her out of there, fast.

"I know what you're thinking, but unless you can get her to a skilled medic or an advanced hospital within an hour or two of taking her, she doesn't have a chance – not in this state." He paused, trying to think of anything else Kakashi might attempt to do. "Ah, and the man administering the antidote is old and quite frail – the least bit of upset could easily be the end of him…" Hideki found himself sliding a little along the wall toward the door. "Um, my uncle picked him because he's been teetering on the brink for years, won't take much to push him over. And, if he goes… so does Sakura."

The silver haired shinobi sat, almost dumbfounded at how much worse the situation had gotten with that little piece of information. His sense of urgency, which was already pretty high, grew – he needed a new, better plan, and there was no time to lose.

Sensing that Kakashi finally saw reason and wouldn't try to make an escape, the bruised man nodded and slipped out of the room, having finally found the door. Aside from wanting to get away from the Copy Ninja in one piece, his job was complete, and he had done all he could for the time being.

Gently the Copy Ninja reached out a hand to Sakura, devastated but unwilling to let on to a possible observer. She was dying, no, he wouldn't allow her to die - she was _suffering_ because he cared for her – none of this would have happened if he didn't have a soft spot for his former student. His love for Sakura had caused her terrible injuries and he wasn't sure how to feel about being the cause of such agony or how to go about rectifying the situation. This whole mess was his fault, his fault for stupidly falling in love. Now Sakura was paying the price for his foolishness… like so many of the other important people in his life. And if he couldn't get her out of there, she _would_ die.

* * *

More sluggishly than ever before, Sakura found herself starting to wake – she guessed that the sedatives were finally beginning to win the long drawn out battle, and she wasn't sure if she could do anything about it. Feeling much worse – weaker – than she had before and not quite sure why, the medic prevented herself from automatically stretching, remembering it would only cause her pain, before slowly opening her eyes to take in the well-known room. The pink haired woman inhaled sharply and stared at the familiar figure sitting just next to her bed, watching her carefully – one of her hands enclosed in his, and a small smile under his mask. She blinked a couple times, figuring that she must be hallucinating again. When the silver haired man did not disappear she realized that her eyes were not playing a cruel trick on her as they had many times before.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with some surprise. She wanted to add: 'It's a trap, go, save yourself while you still can!' but her throat closed before she could get the words out. The pink haired medic felt overwhelmed that her former sensei had actually come for her – she had been doing her best to convince herself that he wouldn't. But, now that he had… death didn't seem to loom quite as imminently in her immediate future as it had for the past several weeks.

Relief flooded through him and his smile widened as he removed one of his hands from hers to gently caress the edge of the necklace he had given to her. In spite of their desperate situation he still couldn't help but once again admire how lovely his family heirloom looked on her. "Do you really need to ask?"

She felt her cheeks flush a little at the implication of his question – though, the sheer fact that he had come for her could have told her the same thing. Sakura didn't want to assume, but a small part of her had to hope that it meant he felt the same way about her as she did about him. Her blush deepened as she remembered the note she had written to him – she had no way to know if he'd read it. The medic didn't regret writing the note, but now that he was there with her, she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at the prospect that he had read her intended final words. She hadn't counted on living long enough to actually see him read them…

Kakashi continued to smile and fought the urge to move his hand to her cheek. Instead he allowed his other hand to give hers a reassuring squeeze. "You all right?"

Still shocked and a little self-conscious but more than relieved to see him Sakura found herself at a loss for words. She wanted to tell him that she was fine – the whole experience had been a nightmare – but everything was okay now that he was there. However, the words remained stuck in her throat and in spite of her best efforts to prevent it, two drops of moisture slipped down her cheeks.

Softly Kakashi brushed her tears away, not wanting to see them. They made him want to pull her into his arms and give in fully to comforting her, but he couldn't quite justify the action. Now that she was awake he couldn't afford to let his emotions get in the way. He knew that sooner or later someone would come by to check on them; Akinori had ordered his underling to check periodically on the kunoichi's status. If Kakashi's calculations were correct, Masanobu was due to look in on them shortly with the old man, to give her a 'vitamin and nutrient' shot (what he now knew was a minimal injection of the antidote to the poison), and he had no intentions of letting any of his enemies walk in on him with her in his arms. Aside from the fact that it would give them more leverage in the bargaining process they were bound to start shortly, the Copy Ninja knew that once he had her in his arms he was _not_ going to let her go. Awkwardly he rested a hand on her shoulder, rubbing her arm in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "It will be okay, Sakura. I'll get you out of this." He smiled encouragingly, knowing that if he were confident enough he would be able to convince her, all the while his chest ached at the anguish in her somewhat glassy eyes. "We'll be home in no time."

Finally Sakura was able to pull herself together. As comforted as she to have him here, she couldn't quite dismiss the fact that he had put himself into a very dangerous position by coming to rescue her. "B-but, it's a trap! They want-"

Hastily he tried to calm her before she could seriously upset herself further. "It's all right. I know what they want… and they can have it if it means I can get you out of here safely."

Sakura frowned with deep concern. "Kakashi, _no_! You can't do that!" She cried, becoming upset all over again.

He raised an eyebrow at her in faint amusement. "Oh? Last time I checked it was mine to do with as I pleased."

"B-but, I'm not-" Sakura started unhappily, her emotions getting the better of her.

"I'll be the judge of that," he interrupted hastily, not wanting to hear her complete the sentence. "And, I say you _are_."

She felt her cheeks heat a little more, and she grasped at straws. "B-but, but… what about the village?!"

"The village can get along just fine without a Copy Ninja, however… the village can't get along without a certain pink haired medic. I'll get you out of here. Don't worry about the price – it's mine alone to pay." Plus, he had to admit to himself, she'd already suffered enough because of him. There was no way, absolutely no way, he would willingly put her though anything more.

"Kakashi…" She trailed off, not sure what she should say to stop him from making a huge mistake. "You-you just can't give it up for me, you just… _can't_."

"Sakura, It's okay." Kakashi moved his hand from her shoulder to her hair, trying to convey his feelings without having to resort to words. Everything that had happened to her was his fault. And while he loved her and, from her note, knew that she loved him – the snag lay in the fact that he wasn't sure if he really _should_ love her; she still had time to find someone her own age who could give her a better life than he could… someone whose love wouldn't put her into the dire situation in which she currently found herself. If she died… he felt that it was almost the same as if he had been the one to kill her.

"Kakashi…"

"I'm _going_ to get you out of here Sakura. You'll be _fine_."

"I-I'm dying Kakashi – even if you can get me out of here… I'm not going to last, not for much longer."

"I'll figure something out – I'm not a genius for nothing." He tried to smile, finding it much harder than it had been a few moments before.

"Kakashi…" She started, her voice thick with emotion and tears threatening to spill again.

The tone of her voice tugged at his heart, he'd _never_ forgive himself if she died. "Come on Sakura, where's that unwavering faith you used to have in my abilities?"

She smiled a little despite herself and shook her head.

He let his hand trail down the side of her cheek, silently willing her to believe. "I _will_ get you out of here, I promise."


	33. Chapter ThirtyThree: PitStop

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Eeep! This took far longer than I'd intended. . My apologies for the delay. Hope this chapter is worth the wait! Just one more to go and hopefully it won't take nearly so long!

Super huge thanks to my fantastic beta MimozaBlooming! You know I'd never be able to get a readable chapter up without your help! THANK YOU! Also, as always, thank you so much to those of you who have stuck this story out with me for so long! Only one more to go and the beast that this fic has become will finally be finished! Until next time, happy reading!

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Three: Pit Stop

Quickly Kakashi made his way back to the compound. He had only been gone for a few hours – long enough to kill the leader of an inconvenient nearby group of bandits. The elite shinobi had agreed to perform the assassination only because Akinori had guaranteed to stop having Sakura drugged in exchange for the service. The sadistic bastard refused to admit anything else was wrong with the kunoichi and since Sakura herself couldn't verify the claim of poison without the use of her chakra all Kakashi had to go on was Hideki's word he had chosen not to push the point so long as she continued to receive her 'vitamin and nutrient' injections. Just stopping the sedations alone would do Sakura a lot of good. Hopefully, it would be enough to allow her body to begin to recover.

The whole situation had gone downhill rather quickly as Sakura's health degraded. Circumstances were tough for both parties: the sedatives were Akinori's only obvious weapon as far as forcing Kakashi to play by their rules. But, even the somewhat less than balanced older man could see that Sakura's condition was steadily becoming worse and if something wasn't done soon she _would_ die and he would lose not only his leverage on the Copy Ninja, but also his only safeguard against the elite shinobi's wrath. Of course, Akinori had also intended on having Sakura perform the transplant, which was impossible in her current sedated state. In the end, though, Akinori still had the poison and the knowledge that his revenge would be complete in the most satisfactorily sweet manner when the little kunoichi sickened and died within only hours of leaving his compound - and there would be absolutely nothing Kakashi could do about it.

Thus, Akinori wanted nothing to do with keeping the two Leaf Ninja any longer than necessary; having them around was just asking for worlds more trouble than he was prepared to deal with. The sooner he could get his Sharingan and the two of them out the door the better… and the sooner he'd finally savor the sweet, sweet sense of revenge when the inevitable happened and the girl died from the poison.

Akinori also could no longer deny how precarious _his_ position had become. There was no doubt in his mind that if their hostage died even accidentally the well known shinobi would not hesitate to brutally slaughter everyone in the compound. When he was planning the kidnapping, he had somehow managed to underestimate the reality of the situation. Now that Kakashi was actually in their compound, Akinori could see just how dangerous the man was, even stripped of the opportunity to use jutsu. Kakashi was a living weapon – and the only thing keeping him sheathed was their control over his woman's life; the ninja could do nothing but comply with their wishes, at least until he found an opportunity to do otherwise. Akinori was starting to regret his manic obsession with the Copy Ninja – though, not enough to abandon his plan. He still intended on making the shinobi suffer, albeit from a safe distance. The old bandit knew he'd have to tread very carefully around the elite warrior if he wanted his plans to be executed safely and not to blow up in his face.

In turn, Kakashi was getting desperate with his latest attempt to extend Sakura's life. He could feel her time was running out. The elite jonin had stayed by her side for two additional days after she woke, refusing to leave – _too afraid_ to leave and never see her again… alive. However, this hadn't been an issue - Akinori had been called away to deal with troubles caused by a rival group of bandits (though, it would appear that he was having enough problems within his own organization) while the medic had still been asleep. Negotiations for Sakura's freedom had thus been put on hold until earlier that day, when the older man had returned and demanded the assassination in exchange for the cessation of sedatives.

The Copy Ninja had chafed at the delay, but used his time as best he could, devising and discarding a series of plans to get Sakura out of there alive. He watched painfully as her life slipped away before his very eyes and for the first time in his life felt truly impotent. His best idea had been to wait until the shinobi Tsunade had threatened to send after them arrived – only a week or less away, if he had been counting properly. Seeing as how Sakura was in no condition to perform the transplant, he guessed that they would be staying in the compound for a little while even after he agreed to pay the price… if he played his cards right, he might even come out of it with both Sakura and his Sharingan intact. Though, if it came down to it, he would be more than willing to give the borrowed bloodline limit up in exchange for her safety.

As he was returning to the complex, Kakashi observed that something big was happening. Men were rushing around in a general state of confusion, and though he couldn't see it he could hear the fighting. Kakashi's stomach plummeted – in the state of chaos, something might have happened to Sakura. Granted, he had not been so foolish as to leave his kunoichi without protection in his absence: before leaving he's stepped outside the compound and summoned Bull – the largest and most menacing of his ninken – and set the massive canine at the foot of Sakura's bed with specific instructions to let no one near. Still, Bull was only one dog and though his loyalty could not be purchased he could be taken out by ordinary means. (Though, if Bull fell, he would know.) Regardless, fearing the worst, Kakashi put on an extra burst of speed, rushing inside the main building to the room where Sakura was being kept, deftly avoiding the pockets of fighting men.

A little panicked, he entered to find her room a mess – battered but still alert, the mastiff painfully heaved himself to his feet and limped to his master. Kakashi quickly assessed the room from his stance in the doorway, looking for a trap Bull wouldn't or couldn't trigger: Sakura herself was lying in her bed, but the sheets were disarrayed and her clothing was torn in places. It was obvious to him that both she and Bull had fended off some sort of an attack. Judging by the amount of damage done to the room and to his mastiff it had been one vicious struggle. Upon finding no signs of a trap the Copy Ninja refocused his attention on his seriously injured summons. His dog whined softly, ducking his head in shame for his apparent failure. Forcibly calming himself, Kakashi took a moment to assess the ninken's injuries before dismissing him with a pat on the head and a soft, 'good dog.' The poor dog was in far too much pain to keep him around any longer and would be useless in trying to ascertain what had happened as he had not been granted the gift of human speech. Silently he cursed himself for not summoning more than Bull to protect Sakura. At the time, he hadn't been sure how difficult the assassination would be or how much of his chakra he'd need. It turned out it had been relatively easy for someone of his skill – he should have risked leaving more of his ninken with her.

With his summons safely gone, Kakashi found himself unable to prevent his anger from exploding – they'd tried to take advantage of his kunoichi while he wasn't around, while she was unable to completely defend herself. He finally allowed himself to fly to her side, needing to make sure she was okay, despite Bull's body language suggesting she was at least alive. A small part of him wondered if he could use the confusion outside as a cover to get her out, poison be damned, since he couldn't let her be treated like this any longer.

"Sakura!" He reached out and shook her shoulder. "Sakura! Wake up! What happened?"

The kunoichi didn't stir and he shook her harder, fear beginning to take over his anger. Sakura was _not_ a heavy sleeper. His blood ran cold for a moment as the thought hit him – he could have misread his summons, he might indeed be too late. Desperately he felt for a pulse. He was more than relieved to feel the faint throb, but his mouth tensed at the small amount of blood he noticed on her arm.

"Sakura!" He tried again, slapping her cheek a little, doing his best not to hurt her, his concern for her safety driving him to try and rouse her however he could.

"It's… no use. My cousins decided to have her… sedated…" an almost broken voice interrupted his efforts.

Kakashi whirled to see who had entered the room. It was Hideki. The younger man was a mess, new bruises, an assortment of scratches, leaning heavily on the doorframe.

"_What_?" Kakashi's hands curled into tight fists, shaking with muscle tension. Lashing white hot fury, which has been threatening to spill ever since he saw the Polaroids in the ransom notes, had surfaced fully.

Hideki swallowed, hard, but continued between deep labored breaths – he'd been running to catch up as Kakashi made his way into the room. "My cousins, they… had 'er sedated… w-wouldn't cooperate…"

The Copy Ninja narrowed his eye, cyclically reminding himself that the brown haired man wasn't to blame, but still greatly tempted to hurt him anyway. "I made a _deal_-"

"Yes, with my uncle… who is now dead. Coup started 'bout an hour… two after you left. Cousins were… tired. Tired of taking orders from him." Hideki paused and took a moment to force his breathing into a natural pattern, despite having visible trouble when he inhaled too deeply. Finally he started speaking again, still strained but eager to calm the seething ninja. "Um, his, uh, obsession with you was getting on their nerves. Well that, and um… they all, ah, want your Sharingan – think it's a waste for Uncle to have it…" he trailed off wondering if he should mention the other reason, but the glare of Kakashi's lone exposed eye convinced him not to hold anything back regardless of how much further it would enrage the elite warrior. Gulping, he continued. "The fact that he wouldn't let any of them near Sakura didn't help matters either… she's, uh, the only woman, um, worth, ah, worth looking at around these parts. Luckily for her they got into an argument about dibs and who would receive your Sharingan – gave your dog a second chance to run them off before anything could actually happen and then.. that's when the second wave started."

The sounds of fighting, which had been somewhat distant, approached. Hideki painfully jerked a glance over his shoulder and then back to Kakashi, taking note of the older man's calculating expression. He knew what the silver haired man was thinking and agreed that it was probably the only option left. Abruptly he shoved a paper and a small key in the Copy Ninja's direction.

"Take these –key for the chakra inhibitors; paper has the name of the sedative they've been giving her, plus several possibilities of what the poison might be. Managed to salvage it from the wreckage of the infirmary area. The old man who was going to administer the antidote is dead and with him the actual name of the poison has been lost. He was one of the first to be killed aside from my uncle. A stupid move on their part if they'd wanted your Sharingan," despite the situation he snorted in disgust at his cousin's idiocy before continuing. "Regardless, they did so after he'd both sedated her _and_ given her a larger booster against the poison – she should be tolerably alright a little less than a day before she will be due for more of the antidote."

Kakashi stared at him, his mind barely on the heels of what was happening, while trying to skim through his options. He could wait no longer, the situation has changed completely, and he had no choice – Tsunade's troops were still several days away, and he _had_ to get Sakura out of there to the nearest skilled medic.

The Copy Ninja knew they would have to make a run for it, but their home village was too far away. _All_ villages were too far away. Konoha was at least a several day journey and even if he ran himself into the ground he'd still come up short a couple days of travel. Relations with Rain were strained at best. Even if they were able to make it to Amegakure, closer than Konoha but still at least two days away at best, there was no guarantee that they would receive aid. More likely they would be captured and either ransomed to Konoha or executed as enemy shinobi on the spot. They would definitely receive help in Sand if they could get there, but Suna was even further away than Konoha. No, none of the larger villages would be of any help. He would need to find a smaller civilian one, one with a doctor…

Feeling his own sense of panic growing by the second, Hideki misread the elite jonin's long moment of silence and tried to prod the older man into more immediate action. "There's a chance they might have made him give her too much of the sedative. If you can't get her out of here now, you really _will_ lose her." In the less experienced man's mind Kakashi should have taken off as soon as he'd received the paper and key – the idea of planning _where_ he should run did not occur to him; direction didn't seem as important as simply getting the hell out of there.

Ignoring the clearly concerned Hideki, Kakashi gathered and connected strings of facts lodged in his memories until… finally… suddenly, everything clicked as a plan coalesced in his mind - the elite jonin sprang into action. Efficiently he wrapped the pink haired woman in one of the sheets from the bed, scooped her up, snatched the key and paper from Hideki and was out of the room.

Within a couple moments Kakashi was out of the building bearing only minor wounds. He had _almost_ successfully managed to avoid all of the fighting and guards, but the Copy Ninja felt little concern for his own injuries – as long as none of the blows reached Sakura.

Once he cleared the compound he paused only long enough to swallow a soldier pill from the stash hidden in Sakura's armband before using his teleportation jutsu several times in rapid succession, draining his enhanced chakra boost almost immediately, but getting them a good ways away from the bandits and toward civilization. Now, they needed a village or town with a doctor or medic who could tend to Sakura within less than a day's travel. Luckily the Copy Ninja had a place in mind which should, be close enough for him to be able to make it, _if_ his calculations were correct – while he had a general feel for the area, one could not be absolutely certain of where they were headed during the jutsu. Nevertheless, he'd do whatever was necessary to make sure of it.

Panting with both the physical exertion and the sustained drain on his chakra, he looked around to take stock of their location and was pleased to see that he recognized the land; his estimate had been correct.

Before setting out, he removed Sakura's chakra inhibitors with the key Hideki had given him. He then used some of his remaining chakra – he couldn't afford to completely deplete his stores as he still needed to be able to protect Sakura should the need arise – to summon his smallest ninken; he gave the little pug precise instructions and sent him off, back to Konoha, with their excepted location and a plea for help. Kakashi knew that there was at least one good doctor in the village he was headed to, but wanted to take no more risks with Sakura's health than absolutely necessary. If he was in luck Tsunade herself would come as soon as she got the message… it would all come down to the doctor being in the village and his ability to keep Sakura alive long enough for the Hokage to get there. With a grim smile of determination – one thing at a time – he set out, hoping that he could get there safely before he passed out, that they would find the help they needed, and that Sakura wouldn't die in the meantime.

* * *

Kakashi stole a glance at the unconscious woman in his arms. He'd been traveling for about half a day and they were almost at their destination. Sakura's skin was still pale and her breathing shallow and labored. She didn't look good. But, then again, she didn't seem any worse than she had been when he'd first found her either, something small for which he was extremely thankful. Appearances aside, she was still dying, there was no way around it – she was dying and it was all _his_ fault. If he hadn't come to care for her as he had… she would never have been put into such a situation. It was ironic, that after all he had done to try and save her, his decision to take her from Akinori's compound might make him her murderer. Then again, if he hadn't, she would surely be dead. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't, and all because he loved her.

Shaking his head, and trying to clear the circular thoughts from his mind, Kakashi caught a glimpse of a familiar tower and dredged up enough energy to hasten his pace – he was nearing both his goal and the end of his energy. Moments later the small border village came into sight and his heart leapt a little: though it was late the gates were still open and, as far as he could see, the guards seemed to be occupied elsewhere. Quickly he sprinted into the village, figuring he would deal with any pursuit from the gate later, after he'd secured medical attention for Sakura.

The Copy Ninja zeroed in on the building he wanted – the small, all-too-familiar inn. Not bothering to even try to hide who and what they were, he entered, hoping that the near-sighted manageress would forgive them for lying to her about their identities on their previous visits and help them once again.

The receptionist gasped in surprise and hastily backed away from the desk as a large specter burst into the lobby. Unable to stop herself she shrieked. The man was clearly travel weary and held a limp woman in his arms, his one visible eye almost frantically searching for something. Waves of desperation rolled off him, sending the few guests running. All in all he cut a fairly frightening figure – certainly not one normally found in their sleepy little village. Beginning to wonder if her first cry of alarm was going to go unheeded she screamed again a bit impatiently as she knew there were at least three men, including her boyfriend, on duty not far from her desk.

Sounds of activity suddenly exploded above and to either side of her. Several men rushed into the lobby in varying states of dress, one in particular clearly interrupted from an activity that required no clothing at all. Taking a single look at the dangerous newcomer apparently holding a woman hostage, they exchanged a look and promptly fled, spreading chaos in the form near-mass-hysteria and a not-so-quiet exodus in their wake.

Sensing that she was out of options – no one was going to come to her aid – the receptionist fled in search of the manageress herself. The old woman materialized as if by magic only moments later, ceasing the sudden flurry of activity in the outer reaches of the inn.

"Copy Ninja," she greeted him with some surprise – though, not nearly as much as he would have expected. "What are you doing at my inn so late?" She leaned forward a bit to get a better look. "And, what is wrong with your young woman?"

Ignoring for the moment the fact that the woman knew who he was, Kakashi decided to (mostly) lay it all out on the line for her in hopes that she would help them. "She's very ill and needs medical attention, _now_."

The manageress drew even closer and recoiled upon getting a good look at the thin and pale kunoichi. "I see." She suspiciously eyed Kakashi for a moment. "And, is there anything else I should know before I call for my son?"

Kakashi let out the breath of air he hadn't realized that he had been holding – she would help them. "A few things, but perhaps in private?" he asked hopefully.

"I see… well, let's get you a room, and then we'll have a nice long, _overdue_, chat." She turned from him and yelled some instructions at the frightened younger woman, who'd timidly returned after seeing her boss react positively to the menacing man, and received a hurried nod and a set of keys in response. "Come along, we'll get her settled and then I'll call my son – I suppose you'll want to tell me exactly what is wrong with her?"

The Copy Ninja nodded and followed the woman. Moments later they arrived at a door in the very back of the hotel, and when she opened it, Kakashi, taking a breath to evaluate the room (looking for escape routes in case the need arose), saw that it was a large suite, most likely saved for visitors of high importance, judging by the size of the rooms and the finer quality of furnishings.

Once the door closed behind them, the old woman sized Kakashi up speculatively, wondering how things would play out as he carefully settled Sakura on the large bed. "So, what will my son need to be prepared to deal with? I don't think you would have quite the look of desperation about you if your young woman was suffering from any of the usual complaints…"

The elite shinobi grimaced, though he knew that she couldn't see it. "Poison and an overdose of sedatives," he paused remembering Sakura's legs. "Oh, and someone severed her Achilles tendons… there might be more, but nothing else that I'm aware of... Er, the poison and the overdose of sedative are the most serious of the lot."

The hotel manageress's eyes widened; she had expected serious, but not _that_ serious. "What?"

Kakashi sighed and tiredly shook his head. "I have already sent away for medical aid from our village, I just need someone to tend to her – _keep her alive_ – until a medic can get here, maybe five, hopefully four days."

Still appalled, but more than convinced as to the urgency of the situation, the old woman nodded, and picked up the in-room phone to make a call.

Kakashi swiftly dropped into a crouch Sakura's bedside, once again focusing nearly all his attention on her condition: she was sweating profusely, her body clearly struggling ever since he'd first broken free of Akinori's compound. He couldn't help but fear that his kunoichi was fighting a losing battle – that, regardless of everything he could possibly do, she was just too tired, too weak and the damage to great for her to overcome. Feeling doomed and useless, he carefully brushed some of her sweat-soaked hair from her face, silently willing her to pull through, while still racking his brain as to anything more he could do to help.

The old woman noticed the silver haired shinobi's anxious attentions to the pink haired kunoichi, and her heart went out to him – it was obvious how he felt about the poor girl. She'd known from the very start that they were shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village; after all, it was difficult not to recognize the legendary Copy Ninja. She knew they were no couple, but what irony – now one didn't even have to look for the signs. Forcing them to pander to her desires had been particularly amusing, and no small match-making success, if she did say so herself. Oh, but now was not the time for such foolish self indulgence.

"My son is on his way. He will do everything in his power to try and save her."

Kakashi, feeling plenty drained physically as well as emotionally, but still seeing no relief in sight, ran a hand through his messy hair with a sigh. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She eyed him for a moment, wondering if she should try and satisfy her curiosity. Unenthusiastically she discarded the thought; he was tired and clearly had enough on his mind already. She couldn't possibly add to his concerns. For the moment, at least.

With reluctance Kakashi removed his attention from Sakura, and focused on covering all his bases: somehow the old woman had known who they were and he wanted to know how and why.

Slowly and tiredly he rose to his feet before settling himself on the edge of Sakura's bed. He would not allow himself to be separated from his kunoichi easily. "So, are you going to tell me how you know who I am?" He asked, careful to keep his voice neutral.

She smiled having anticipated the question. "My family is originally from the Land of Water. My husband was a Mist shinobi."

Kakashi tensed, rose once again to his feet and instinctively placed himself firmly between their host and the bed Sakura was on; if her husband was with Mist why hadn't she blown their cover? And, more importantly, just how safe were they here?

Hastily she held her hands out in front of her, hoping to placate him, "I've no intention of alerting anyone that you're here. You and your young woman are more than welcome in my hotel, even in the state that both of you are in, regardless of the substantial entry you have in most villages' Bingo Books."

Kakashi only tensed and stilled further, trying to anticipate what the catch would be, why she might go out of her way to mention their debilitated states. While this woman had ignored them the few times they had stayed in her inn, they would have been able to defend themselves then. Now they were completely at her mercy. Sure, he could grab Sakura and make a run for it - the soldier pill able to keep him going for at least another two days - but somehow he doubted Sakura would survive another change in location. "Why?"

The old woman sighed and shook her head. "I've heard of you, Kakashi. Some of your feats are quite incredible. You were very high in Mist's Bingo book – probably still are, though I couldn't be certain now..." She trailed off before hurriedly continuing. "Anyway, my husband did not return from a mission a long time ago. We were only married for five years, but I treasure them and wouldn't trade them for anything. Stubborn fool that he was took a lot of convincing. We _could_ have been married for eight…"

Kakashi watched as she paused, wistful remembrances in her eyes, and decided not to interrupt. She seemed eager to disclose all this to him, so attentively he waited until she shook off the memories and continued her story.

"He left me with five sons, the youngest of which he did not have a chance to meet. Our village had a program for widows and their families, so I decided to stay and raise my sons in Mist. It was hard, but things went as well as could be expected. It was difficult but I never for a minute regretted any of it. Time passed and my sons grew; my eldest – you've already met Takahiro –became a doctor; Hiroshi attended culinary school and is now the chef here at the inn; Keita and Tatsuharu decided that they would go into business together and my youngest..." She sighed. "Yoshikazu wanted to follow in his father's footsteps… But, you see, after what happened to his father… I didn't want that sort of life for him." She paused, trying to phase what she wanted to say without somehow insulting the elite shinobi. "I loved my husband. I loved my husband, job and all – it was part of what made him who he was, the man I loved. I married him knowing that a ninja left his village not knowing if he would return, and so we made the most of what little time we had as I knew we wouldn't have much. But…" she sighed. "I'd already lost my husband to his job. I didn't want to lose my son too." Regretfully she shook her head. "Nevertheless, I knew that Yoshikazu longed to somehow know his father, to connect with him if only through a shared lifestyle. It became his dream, his life ambition - to be a shinobi of Mist. I knew my husband would have been delighted at the thought of his son following in his footsteps. So, eventually I gave in and come what may, let him follow his dream...

"I'm not one to regret the past – I learned from my husband to live life to the fullest every moment because you never know how little you have left – but, if I had to name one? I think my biggest regret in life is that I did give in to Yoshikazu. He was so happy though, made it through the academy to the graduation rites... I'd been so nervous about that, but he was good and so persistent, I for a while there, I barely worried… but... turns out he wasn't good enough." A tear ran unheeded down one of her cheeks as she continued. "Some boy not even enrolled in the academy showed up and butchered the entire class, my son included." She had to pause to wipe at the tears now flowing freely.

"We were so angry, horrified, everyone was. And then, the academy actually took the boy in and trained him! It was then that I took my remaining sons and left the village. We came here and opened this inn – I don't think I could have done it without my sons; they've helped me so much. Occasionally I'd hear from friends back in Mist or catch news from the inn guests. I learned that the boy who had killed my son had turned on the village and became a missing-nin. And then, I head that an amazing Leaf shinobi and his genin team killed him..." She smiled at Kakashi though her tears. "So, you see, I feel as though I owe you a debt of gratitude."

She looked him directly in the eye. "You killed the man who killed my son. Thank you." The old woman took a step toward the door, not wanting to deal with the shinobi's unguarded expression of incredulity. "For that I will do all that I can to try and save your kunoichi; it is the very least I can do. I'll leave you two be for now, my son should be here shortly."

Kakashi stood in stunned silence as the hotel manageress exited the room. He would never have expected his past deeds to actually lead to something positive for his future.

* * *

Takahiro quietly entered the room, moving slowly and deliberately. His mother had warned him about the occupants and he had no desire to startle any elite shinobi, especially the one his family had felt so grateful to for the past several years. The doctor discovered that his actions were quite warranted when he suddenly found himself facing the business end of a kunai and the sharp gaze of the Copy Ninja.

"Whoa! I'm here to help!" He very cautiously raised his hands in front of him, waiting for Kakashi to recognize him.

With a sigh (he was too tired – he would have usually recognized Takahiro on sight, as the man had helped Ino), the silver haired man removed the blade and returned to his post by Sakura's side. "Sorry. On edge…." Restlessly, Kakashi ran his hand through his hair and once again focused his attention on the very visibly ill pink haired woman. "Please, doctor, anything you can do…"

Realizing that he would have to be extra careful with both his patient and her… whatever, Takahiro shook his head. "Don't worry about it, completely understandable from someone in your situation." He drew close to the bed and sharply inhaled, his brows furrowing deeply. He had hoped his mother was exaggerating, but the young woman was teetering on the very brink: thin, pale, a sheen of sweat on her face, her skin of an almost grayish tint, her breath in short, uneven, weak gasps.

Doing his best to ignore the doctor's unfavorable reaction, Kakashi handed the doctor the slip of paper Hideki had given to him, the struggle with the overwhelming dread making his hand shake. "That's the name of the sedative – she's been given small amounts over the last two months, and a larger dose a little over twelve hours ago; also, three possible names of the poison she has been given."

Takahiro nodded as he read the paper. Slowly he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding – he had come across all of the poisons listed before and could give her the antidotes for all (to be on the safe side) of them without any adverse effects. The sedative on the other hand was a different matter entirely. He'd never had any dealings with it before, never mind an overdose – while he heard of it in medical school, the detrimental nature of the drug was such that it was seldom used, and overdose cases were rare.

Shaking his head impatiently the doctor set his bag down to begin an assessment of the poor girl – doing his best to ignore the almost menacing presence of the Copy Ninja standing right behind him. The older man was very apparently attached to the young woman, and had, according to his mother, already been through the equivalent of hell in trying to save her. Takahiro understood the shinobi's need to be close to her, but it was bound to make his work tricky and needlessly cautious. He wondered if the ninja wouldn't snap if he asked him to give him some space.

After a thorough examination – made infinitely more difficult by the fact that Kakashi refused to leave her side and stiffened in displeasure at some of the things necessary to complete an assessment of her condition – Takahiro confirmed that the paper had been correct in its guess as to likely poison candidates. With some relief he pulled out the antidotes from his bag and quickly administered them – he would take no chances and treat all three. Normally, without time constraints, he'd have taken blood samples to make sure there was an immediate reaction, but given his patient's state… Takahiro took a deep breath and shifted his gaze to the impatient man hovering next to the ill girl to deliver the news – both good and bad. "The note was accurate in listing the poisons. I've given her the antidotes for all three –they will not interact with each other or cause her any undue problems…" he trailed off, not wanting to continue on to the part he was certain wouldn't go over very well.

The Copy Ninja felt a cautious sense of elation – the poison was his greatest fear. With it taken care of, Sakura certainly stood a chance - she had, after all, been successfully fighting the sedative for a couple of months now, and surely she could make it another couple days with a little help from the good doctor? His kunoichi was a fighter, she'd get through this.

Takahiro braced himself, unable to meet the shinobi's eye. "As for the sedative… I'm sorry. There is nothing I can do. The cumulative effects of this particular drug are why it's rarely used – it's much too easy to accidentally O.D, and very little can be done once a patient has had too much – the damage has already been done. At this point, we can only hope she can fight it off on her own and pull through."

Kakashi's hopeful high cruelly crashed under the blaze of harsh reality. He would lose her. After all that he had done he was _still_ going to lose her. Anger flared and he had to fight the urge to grab and shake the man in hopes of getting a miracle cure out of him. He was a doctor, damn it, what did he mean he couldn't help her? She was dying! All too quickly, Kakashi's anger was replaced by desperation – it couldn't end this way. He was ready to beg, plead and pray, grasping for any sort of help. "Isn't there _something_ you can do?"

Takahiro hurt at the shinobi's pain, but no clever life saving ideas came to mind. In such moments, he hated the limits of his knowledge. "I'm truly sorry, there is nothing medical science can do for her… a medic, on the other hand could do more – I'm sure. But, I'm afraid we don't have any medics in this region, just a handful of doctors."

Kakashi fought the tide of emotions, trying to stay rational. "I've already sent for a medic from our village, but it will take time for them to get here…" He took a deep breath trying to calm himself and failing miserably. "_Please_, there must be something, _anything_… I-I can't lose her. We just need to buy her a little more time."

Takahiro flinched a little at the elite warrior's words, his heart sinking all over again for both the girl and the man who clearly loved her. "Well…" The doctor frantically searched his memory once again and grasped at straws in his desperation. "It's not ideal and very dangerous, but… I could give her a stimulant to try and ease some of the effects of it on her system. However, doing that would also negate some of the effects of the antidotes to the poison." The doctor took in the emotions battling in the Copy Ninja's face and posture - anger, fear, desperation, and despair - before hurrying on. "I can wait until the poison has been neutralized and then try administering the stimulant, but even then there is no guarantee, as it would be extremely risky. She is very weak. I-I'm afraid her chances are slim at best. Without directly removing the sedative from her system and repairing the damage done on the inside…She-she probably won't even wake up."

Kakashi sat down heavily as the information slowly sank in. There was _nothing_ he could do, nothing the _doctor_ could do… it was all up to Sakura now; in the end she had to fight this thing alone…He was, like always, too late. Training finally took over from his emotions and a semblance of an aloof calm settled over his exterior. He gently took one of Sakura's hands in his. "Okay… I understand."

Sensing that there was nothing left to be said and that it would be best to leave Kakashi alone Takahiro quietly took his leave, even more determined to find something he could do to buy a little more time for the pink haired woman.

The Copy Ninja heard the doctor exit the room and sighed, his grip tightening on Sakura's hand as he watched her labored breathing. A part of him still rebelled at the thought that they had lost, that is was all over. After all, the doctor only said that there wasn't anything _he_ could do. No matter – he couldn't afford to underestimate his Sakura. He should have had faith in her strength and persistence. She'd hold out until the medics arrived. She was still fighting with everything she had. _She_ hadn't given up the fight… so neither would he. Silently Kakashi willed her the strength to survive, knowing that it was probably futile, but at a loss as to what else he could possibly do.

* * *

Two days later, Takahiro re-entered the room almost afraid at what he would find. Against all odds the girl seemed to be fighting the effects of the sedative long beyond what he could ever expect from a patient in her condition. Once the poison was neutralized, he had administered the stimulant to try and ease the effects of the sedative overdose on her system. From that point on it was completely up to her, and the girl seemed to be fighting with whatever strength she had left.

As he approached the bed, with shinobi's one visible eye following his every move, Takahiro quickly thought over his escape plan – the fact that the silver haired man was an elite assassin was never far from his mind while treating Sakura. And, although Kakashi had shown amazing control over his emotions in such a trying situation, Takahiro knew that a death of a loved one would make the Copy Ninja a very dangerous man on edge, and that all the shinobi's grief and fury would be channeled at him. And yet, the sort of quiet desperation was all too easily read in the Copy Ninja's body language. Every time he saw it, Takahiro's heart ached a little more for the pair despite the acute sense of fear he felt around the legendary warrior.

Upon arriving at Sakura's bedside the doctor started his checkup, not really expecting much of a change, but still hoping for something positive to tell Kakashi. Almost immediately he noticed that Sakura seemed to be a little less hot, and taking her temperature confirmed that her fever had come down a little. Feeling encouraged, he continued with the examination, finding very slight signs of improvement at almost every turn. Cautiously he allowed himself a moment of optimistic thought – she might make it after all; shinobi really were the toughest type of people to kill.

When he finished he looked up at the anxious man and smiled just a little. "Hmm, looks like she might be doing a little better right now."

"Will she-" Kakashi started, knowing better than to get his hopes up but not quite able to prevent the outburst.

The small smile slipped off Takahiro's face and he shook his head in warning. "It's too soon to say one way or the other… but as of now she is a little better than she was a couple hours ago." Would it be so bad to provide careful consolation? "If she can keep it up… maybe, just maybe, she might pull through."

Trying to quash the slight shred of hope as best he could Kakashi nodded and returned his gaze to the unconscious woman, silently willing her to continue fighting.

* * *

Takahiro shook his head in amazement. Against all odds Sakura seemed to be successfully fighting the effects of the sedative. He simply couldn't believe it. Medically she couldn't be wining this fight, it just wasn't possible.

"She's doing far better than I would have ever imagined. I've no idea how she is doing it, but somehow she seems to be… I don't know… focusing every last bit of her energy on repairing all the internal damage…" he trailed off in disbelief. He'd never seen anything like it before. Granted, he'd never treated a medic before either.

Surprised Kakashi turned his head so that Takahiro couldn't see his face, slipped the band of leather he had been using to conceal his Sharingan aside, and used it to assess Sakura's condition. After a moment he bit off a startled curse. Though she was unconscious, her chakra was active and encouraging healing in certain areas of her body – mostly her more important organs. He had to guess that she, or a strong survival instinct, was working on the critical injuries first as none of her chakra was working to heal her severed Achilles tendons.

Surreptitiously he shifted the band of leather back into place and turned to face the doctor with a slight smile. "She's a fighter."

* * *

The doctor shook his head sadly as he examined Sakura again – the change had literally happened within less than two hours. Sakura had taken an unexpected turn for the worse just when it had looked as though she might make it. He'd been summoned by a frantic call from his mother less than an hour before to find the pink haired woman looking worse than ever, gray skinned, cold and barely breathing. It was all too clear to his medically trained eye. His worst fear had come to pass – an infection.

Steeling himself he looked the shinobi directly in the eye to deliver the bad news. "Look… this time, well – I'm out of options. I-I don't think… I don't think there's anything, er, anything left to be done. Her… body has started to fail – this has all been too much for her to handle. She's dying and there's nothing else _I_ can do. Her wounds have somehow gotten infected and that infection has spread like wildfire… in her weakened state… there is nothing more I can do for her and your medics are still at least two or three days away." He didn't try to sugarcoat it, whatever damage it might result it to his own person; the time for giving the shinobi false hope out of pity was over. Once a patient's body started to fail there was nothing medical science could do. And, the aid he'd been hoping for from his own village – the aid that could possibly do something for the poor girl – couldn't possibly get there in less than two days. Unfortunately, in her current state there was no way his patient would ever make it.

"She was weak when you brought her in and her body has been fighting for a long time now – too long. She, she just doesn't have anything left. Her internal organs have started to falter and it's only a matter of time now before they fail entirely. She just has nothing there left to fight off this infection. I've done all I can... I'm very sorry to say, she just doesn't seem to have the strength left to continue the fight on her own." Takahiro sighed, hating to admit defeat after all he had done and the silver haired man had been through, but there really was _nothing_ left that he could do for her. He'd tried everything in the books and a few things that weren't. Apparently everything he could do simply wasn't enough for his patient.

The poor young woman had been through more than enough already – in a way it seemed almost cruel for her to have hung on (suffering) as long as she had… but, that just spoke to the incredible determination of shinobi. It was a miracle that neither the poison nor the over dose of the sedative would be the cause of her death. Instead a simple infection, one easily fought off by those of sound body, would be the cause of her abruptly shortened life. Clearly she hadn't been ready to die yet and had been doing everything she could to survive, which was much more than any civilian he had ever treated. Ninja were a truly a different breed of people …

Suddenly an idea struck the doctor, one he couldn't quite figure how he had missed up until then, but one definitely worth trying as all other options had failed. "If, if there is anything _you_ can do" he gestured vaguely with his hands trying to convey the wide varied world of jutsu, "that you think might help but have been reluctant to try, now is your last chance. Otherwise… otherwise, you should say goodbye to her– as she is, she'll last maybe a couple hours, four at the most."

_No_. Kakashi felt his heart almost stop. He knew she had been close before, but now? _No_. It wasn't fair. She had tried so hard, and she was so young, and he'd just found her and - he couldn't lose her like this. No, just _no_.

Takahiro left them without a word, to all outward appearances wanting to allow the elite shinobi some time alone with his patient, though they both knew it was in order to give Kakashi free reign to try anything in his repertoire to save the woman he so clearly loved. Though, the doctor held out no hope for a miracle cure as he was certain that it was really only a matter of an hour or two before the poor woman's suffering was ended once and for all. This was the part Takahiro liked least about his job. He had done his best and it simply hadn't been enough; the patient had been brought to him too late for him to do any real good. Now he would have to face the disappointment of his mother …and probably the wrath of the elite shinobi from Leaf, once the grief let up enough for the anger to set in. He shuddered slightly: _that_ was not going to be a fun encounter.

Left alone in the luxurious suite morbidly fit for a funeral, Kakashi leaned over Sakura – within his reach, yet still slipping away. One of his hands reached out to caress her cool cheek, absently slipping down her neck to his grandmother's necklace. His fingers moved on their own to trace the faint raised pattern as his mind spiraled down into a dark world where his future did not include the woman he loved. A void of pure hopelessness settled around him; he had been fighting it for too long. This time his grief and despair were somehow more real, more solid now that the last shred of hope was all but gone. If he'd had some sort of miraculous jutsu up his sleeve he sure as hell wouldn't have waited until she was on the brink of death to use it!

Denial kicked in again. It couldn't end like this. He'd done his best, worked so hard to save her. Sakura just couldn't die now. His hand moved on to toy with the matching arm band, tracing the flowers without any real thought or direction.

Suddenly rage flared deep and dark within him – it was so unfair. They'd only just found each other and now it would be over before it even had a chance to begin. His fingers clenched into a fist and chakra flowed to his hand without his conscious direction. Hastily he pulled his appendage away from Sakura's arm, but not before his fingers brushed against one of the secret compartments. The little flower slid aside, spilling a number of pills onto the bed.

Dumbly Kakashi stared at them, his anger ebbing, replaced by something else. Right in the middle of the pile was a small black one – he hadn't realized that she had put more than one of those in there. An idea began to form in his mind. If she was dying – really, truly dying – it couldn't hurt to try. Regardless of what Takahiro thought, at the most the medic Tsunade sent could only be a day or two away, and if it worked he might just buy Sakura enough time to last until aid from Konoha arrived.

Quickly he crushed the soldier pill and mixed it with a partial cup of water from her bedside table. Gently, he raised her up and dribbled the liquid into her mouth, making sure that she swallowed all of it. Taking a deep breath, as he had never tried something like this before and wasn't sure it would work, he shifted aside the band of leather he had been using to cover his Sharingan. Carefully, he lifted the lid of one of her eyes and allowed the tomoe in his Sharingan to begin to spin slowly, not quite lazily.

It was tough going, just as the doctor had said, for Sakura had _nothing_ left. He was amazed that she was still managing to hold on, if only just barely. He concentrated harder on what needed to be done. And, after several moments of trying he was finally able to get her to shift one of her hands so that it touched the correct part of the necklace, and with a little more concentration he was able to have her release a tiny amount of chakra into the torc. The result was immediate and he felt as though he would have been knocked over if he had not been sitting next to her on the bed. The necklace had been gathering chakra from the unconscious woman even while she had been wearing the inhibitors, as the amount released had been much more than he had expected.

Panting slightly with the effort Kakashi sat back and surveyed his work. As he watched her labored breathing and the sudden burst of chakra flowing through her system he suddenly remembered the contents of two of the other secret compartments and harshly cursed himself – the chakra enhanced ointment – if he had only thought of and used it earlier this infection would never have happened. Quickly he retrieved the ointment and as carefully as possible saturated her leg wounds with the powerful salve. Hopefully it wasn't too late. The special ointment and the soldier pill combined with the burst of chakra should, if her weakened body could handle it, keep her going for another day or two. At least until medical aid from the village arrived… he hoped.


End file.
